Home Office

Asylum: MOD Wethersfield

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has for undertaking age verification checks for asylum seekers to be accommodated at the MOD Wethersfield site; and if she will publish details of the age verification process.

Robert Jenrick: There is already an established procedure in place at Western Jet Foil for performing age assessment on all new arrivals as part of screening.The initial age decision, based on physical appearance and demeanour, is conducted as soon as practicable. It serves as a first step to ensure individuals are routed into the correct process and avoids unnecessarily subjecting individuals who are clearly adults or clearly children to a comprehensive Merton-compliant age assessment. The threshold is set deliberately high in recognition of the difficulty in assessing an individual’s age based on physical appearance and demeanour.If doubt remains about whether the claimant is an adult or a child, they are referred for further consideration of their age and treated as a child for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age has been completed. We have placed specific mitigations for large sites which sets the threshold deliberately higher than for other contingency accommodation to ensure the impact on the local community is as minimal as possible

Offences against Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Government response to recommendation 16, of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published in May 2023, CP 844, what the planned timeline is for consultation on specialist therapeutic services for survivors and victims.

Miss Sarah Dines: The Government recognises the importance of high-quality, timely therapeutic support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.In recent years we have significantly increased funding for national, regional and community provision of support services for victims of child sexual abuse.As set out in our response to Recommendation 16 of the Independent Inquiry, we will be engaging with commissioners, service providers and other experts on child sexual abuse about what further steps we can take to ensure access to suitable support to help victims and survivors recover and rebuild their lives. This will build on provisions in the Victims and Prisoners Bill to introduce a duty on local commissioners to collaborate when commissioning support services for victims and survivors of sexual abuse, and work by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse to map the provision of specialist child sexual abuse support in a ‘State of the Sector’ report. This work will support funders and commissioners to commission services effectively based on a better knowledge of existing provision and need.We have also committed to providing regular updates to Parliament on all the commitments made in the government’s final response to the Independent Inquiry.

Slavery: Victims

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2023 to Question 188925, if she will make it her policy to publish data on (a) the proportion of negative conclusive grounds decisions upheld under the Multi-Agency Assurance Panels process and (b) the time taken to uphold a decision; and if he will make a statement.

Miss Sarah Dines: Multi-Agency Assurance Panels (MAAPs) were introduced as a matter of policy in an advisory capacity as part of the NRM decision making process to review negative conclusive grounds decisions prior to decision service. Decision making responsibility remained with the competent authorities, who would consider the feedback given by MAAPs.The competent authorities provided MAAPs with details of a case at least three working days ahead of the scheduled review, to allow MAAPs time to consider the case. Following the review MAAP Chairs were required to return feedback within two working days. MAAPs may have agreed with the decision of the competent authority, disagreed, or suggested that more information may be required. The competent authority would consider the MAAP feedback and what action, if any, was required, prior to issuing a final decision. The time taken for such action was dependent on the individual case and the nature of the feedback that had been given.MAAPs were removed from the decision-making process in December 2022. Data on MAAPs was not published during their existence and there are no plans to publish that data going forward.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Education and (b) the Chief Inspector of Ofsted about implementing an inspection framework for hotels used by the Home Office to house unaccompanied asylum seeking children; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: The role of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) (until 2012, the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency) was established by the UK Borders Act 2007. Sections 48–56 of the UK Borders Act 2007 (as amended) provide the legislative framework for the inspection of the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance of functions relating to immigration, asylum, nationality and customs by the Home Secretary and by any person exercising such functions on her behalf. In October 2022, the ICIBI published a report into his inspection between March – May 2022 on the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). The report can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-inspection-of-the-use-of-hotels-for-housing-unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children-uasc-march-may-2022 The ICIBI was assisted in the inspection by Ofsted, acting in an advisory capacity. The ICIBI’s inspection found that ‘unanimously’ the young people accommodated at the interim hotels reported feeling ‘happy and safe’. We are taking a new power in the Illegal Migration Bill to provide or arrange for the provision of accommodation for unaccompanied children. Our policy intention is to ensure that whilst time in this accommodation is expected to be short, we will be seeking to meet standards which are appropriate for the accommodation so that children are sufficiently supported and safeguarded. We are working closely with the Department for Education and relevant stakeholders on the appropriate standards which should apply. With regards to inspection, we expect to be transparent in allowing appropriate scrutiny of our accommodation linked to any agreed appropriate standards.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 132332 on Asylum: Children, whether each unaccompanied asylum seeking child on arrival at their accommodation will be explicitly informed (a) that they will not be sent to Rwanda, (b) of their rights as a child seeking asylum in the UK, (c) of the risks to them of people seeking to exploit children staying in asylum hotels, (d) of advice to stay safe and (e) about how to seek help if in difficulty; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: Hotel accommodation is only ever a temporary means to accommodate the increased number of arriving unaccompanied children, in advance of them entering local authority care. Unaccompanied children are accommodated in hotels for the shortest time possible. No decisions on their immigration status or asylum claims are taken until they are in local authority care.We take the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) temporarily accommodated in hotels are safe and supported whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. The young people are given briefings on a range of issues around how to stay safe including (but not limited to), knife crime, drugs and alcohol and water safety.All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2023 to Question 149437 on Asylum: Children, for what reason she has not provided the specific information requested with reference to page 10 of the National Transfer Scheme Protocol for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, Version 4.0, asking what proportion of transfers under the National Transfer Scheme for unaccompanied asylum seeking children not in the care of a local authority are taking place within five working days of a referral; if she will provide a response to that question; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people. Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found.As set out in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) protocol on 24 August 2022 the transfer timeframe was reduced to five working days for all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children transferring from interim hotels not currently in the care of a local authority. Based on local management information, approximately half of all children transfer within 5 days.The NTS has seen 4,875 children transferred to local authorities with children’s services between 1 July 2021 and 31 March 2023, which is over six times the number of transfers in the same time frame in previous years. (October 2019 – June 2021 there were 793 transfers). The time it takes for a local authority to identify a placement varies and has meant some children experience delays in transferring. Where there are significant delays we will look to move the child to Kent County Council’s Reception and Safe Care Service or reallocate the child to a different local authority. Delays may also occur where a child refuses to transfer to the placement. Social workers from the emergency hotels and local authorities work close with the children to encourage them to take the offered placement.The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern. Robust safeguarding and welfare procedures are in place to ensure all children are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. This includes support workers being onsite in the hotels 24 hours a day, supported by nurses and social workers. UASC are not detained and are free to leave the accommodation. All contingency sites have security staff and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.

Fraud: Older People

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the level of threat to people over the age of 65 of being targeted by online (a) data phishing and (b) other scam attacks.

Tom Tugendhat: The Government recognises the serious risks presented by online fraud and recently published a Fraud Strategy setting out our approach to block these scams and better protect the public.Phishing is one of the main methods used to commit fraud in this country, with Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) data (year ending March 2022) indicating that one in two people reported receiving an email, text, or social media message that may have been phishing in the last month. This included 43% of 65-74 year olds and 28% of 75+ year olds. Source: Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).Fraud affects people of all ages, with the CSEW indicating that the highest proportion of victims are those aged 45-54 (9%). People aged 18-24 (5%) and 75+ (6%) were significantly less likely to be a victim of fraud than the average adult (8%). Source: Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Business: Rural Areas

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Draft Bill on rural businesses.

Tom Tugendhat: The Terrorism (Protection of premises) draft Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC). As part of this process, the Home Office have published a full Impact Assessment, which can be found on gov.uk.A fundamental consideration when developing this draft Bill is proportionality, and it is vital that we balance this against the threat we face today.

Asylum: MOD Wethersfield

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 1(b) of Class Q on development by the Crown relating to an emergency in Part 19 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, what steps she plans to take to ensure that use of the MOD Wethersfield site for asylum accommodation complies with the requirements in that paragraph.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Secretary will take steps to ensure that at the end of the 12 month period, the use of the land for asylum accommodation will cease. It will either be restored to its original condition or planning permission will be alternatively obtained to regularise the development.

ACRO Criminal Records Office: Internet

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing times for applications to the Criminal Record Office through the ACRO website were for (a) police certificates, (b) international child protection certificates, (c) subject access requests and (d) record deletion were in the last three months.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish a (a) telephone number and (b) correspondence address for the ACRO service for people do not have computer facilities.

Chris Philp: On 21 March ACRO were notified that their external website had been subject to a malware attack and that their website should be taken down for security purposes. Security investigations are ongoing. In the meantime, applications for a) police certificates, (b) international child protection certificates, and (c) subject access requests are being processed manually. Applications for record deletion are not made using the ACRO website portal.The average processing times since the cyber incident are as follows:a) Police certificates: 12.23 working days to complete;b) International Child Protection Certificates: 14.37 working days to complete;c) Subject Access Requests: 16.94 working days to complete;The standard turnaround for these services would usually be 10 days or one month in the case of subject access requests. These times do not include applications that came to ACRO in the wrong format or without the required supporting documentation or payment.ACRO can be contacted on 023 8047 9920 or by post at: ACRO, PO Box 481, Fareham PO14 9FS.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the decision to make the National Transfer Scheme for unaccompanied asylum seeking children mandatory for all local authorities has not resulted in the elimination of the use of hotel accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seeking children; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to end the practice of placing unaccompanied asylum seeking children in hotels.

Robert Jenrick: The rise in the number of small boat crossings in recent years has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people. Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to maintain the temporarily use of hotels to give some unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found. Since 15 February 2022, all local authorities with children’s services in the UK have been directed to participate in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) to ensure UASC receive the critical care they need. Between 1 July 2021 and 31 March 2023, the NTS transferred 4,875 children to local authorities with children’s services which is over six times the number of transfers in the same time frame in previous years (between October 2019 – June 2021 there were 793 transfers). It remains our intention to end the use of hotels for UASC and we have offered incentivised funding to local authorities to move these young people in the care system. However, the continuing numbers of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK by small boat means we have had no choice but to maintain the use of hotels to temporarily accommodate UASC. We are taking a new power in the Illegal Migration Bill to provide or arrange for the provision of accommodation for unaccompanied children. We are also taking a power to direct a local authority in England to provide accommodation to an unaccompanied child, reflecting our position that any time spent in Home Office accommodation should be temporary.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date she took the decision to reopen the hotel in Hove to house unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; how many people previously housed at that hotel as children who went missing from that hotel remain missing; of those who remain missing, how many are still under the age of 18; whether her Department's risk assessment of the safeguarding risks to unaccompanied children of being housed in hotels has considered information obtained from the cases of children who have previously gone missing from such hotels and who have been (a) found and (b) not found; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: This matter is sub judice so the Home Office cannot comment at this time. Once the matter is resolved they may re-table the question to obtain a more substantive response.

Asylum: MOD Wethersfield

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to provide (a) local authorities, (b) police and (c) NHS services in Essex details of the funding they will receive in connection with the use of the MOD Wethersfield site for asylum accommodation in the (i) financial year 2023-24 and (ii) next five financial years; and whether she plans to publish details of the funding allocations.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has committed substantial funding to help minimise the impact on local communities and services. This includes 24/7 security to reduce the need for police patrols, on-site catering, healthcare and transport provision for those housed on site. Discussions regarding the specific funding arrangements for local authorities and the NHS are ongoing, and a grant policy for police forces impacted by new large sites, including Wethersfield, has been published. The government currently provides £3,500 to local authorities for new and occupied dispersal beds. This £3,500 funding for local authorities will be extended to the sites at Wethersfield.Ministers have also committed to a health funding package for large sites this financial year. This will cover initial set-up costs for Wethersfield against defined parameters and a tariff will be applied for each occupied bed at the end of the financial year as agreed following consultation with health stakeholders.

Migrants and Refugees: Resettlement

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the debate on the Integration of migrants and refugees at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 21 June 2023.

Robert Jenrick: The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those that need it. Since 2015, over half a million people have been offered safe and legal routes into the UK. This includes those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, as well as family members of refugees. This Government is committed to ensuring that refugees arriving through safe and legal routes can take positive steps towards integration as they rebuild their lives in the UK. All refugees and those granted protection in the UK have immediate access to the labour market and to mainstream benefits and services that support their integration. We are already working successfully with local authorities, strategic migration partners and community sponsors to implement measures that assist integration and enable self-sufficiency. The Home Office provides local authorities with funding to cover resettlement and integration costs for those who arrive through the UK Resettlement Scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme or the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. We are further delivering on our commitment to strengthen support for refugees through our Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund (RTOF) and Refugee Employability Programme (REP) helping them to move into work, learn English, access housing and build links in their local communities. We monitor and evaluate our programmes of support, to better understand refugee needs and integration outcomes.

Visas: Families

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration entitled An inspection of the Home Office’s processing of family visas, September 2021 to February 2022, published on 18 October 2022, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who fall into irregular status due to the absence of a fee waiver for indefinite leave to remain applications.

Robert Jenrick: The number of people who fall into irregular status due to the absence of a fee waiver for indefinite leave to remain applications does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.

Educational Visits: France

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the UK-France Joint Leaders' Declaration, published on 10 March, what progress she has made on facilitating school trips between France and the UK.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the UK-France Joint Leaders' Declaration, published on 10 March, what discussions she has had with her French counterpart on facilitating school trips between France and the UK.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to facilitate school trips between France and the UK.

Robert Jenrick: At the Leaders’ summit in Paris on 10 March 2023 the UK committed to ease the travel of school groups to the UK by making changes to documentary requirements for schoolchildren on organised trips from France.France and the UK further agreed to establish a Mobility Dialogue through a Technical Working Group under joint ministerial oversight to address bilateral mobility issues.The first of these was held in early June and we are currently working through the details of implementation.More information will be provided in due course.

Immigration: Applications

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people applied for a renewal of limited leave to remain with a request for a discretionary grant of indefinite leave to remain under the five-year route to settlement concession outside of the Immigration Rules between 21 October 2021 and 19 June 2022.

Robert Jenrick: The number of people applying for renewal of limited leave to remain with a request for a discretionary grant of indefinite leave to remain under the five-year route to settlement concession outside of the Immigration Rules between 21 October 2021 and 19 June 2022 does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.However, the transparency data and migration statistics do include a range of processing data relating to family visas and can be found at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration.

Hate Crime: LGBT+ People

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many LGBT young people aged 16-25 have been victims of a hate crime in the last 12 months.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not hold the information requested.The Home Office publishes information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police on an annual basis. This provides information on hate crimes, including sexual orientation and transgender identity hate crimes, but does not include the age of the victim for these strands. Information for 2021/22 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2021-to-2022.

Department for Education

Teachers: Mental Health

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the mental health of teachers on the quality of education provided.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the mental health of teachers.

Nick Gibb: The Department regularly commissions research on topics, including the mental health of headteachers, teachers and school staff, for example, the ‘wellbeing’ chapter in the September 2022 wave of the School and College Panel survey, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1138269/School_and_college_panel_report_for_September_2022.pdf, and wave one of the ‘Working lives of teachers and leaders’ survey, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-1. The Department also monitors emerging research in the field, such as Education Support’s annual wellbeing index report, which reports on the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and education staff. The index report is available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/.Supporting the mental health of education staff is crucial to the Department’s commitment to help create a supportive culture in schools and to encourage teacher retention. The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, published by the Department, sets out commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff. The Charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.Building on a successful pilot, the Department is funding the charity, Education Support, to provide professional supervision and counselling to headteachers and college leaders. Over 1,000 leaders have benefitted from the support so far. On 12 June 2023, the Department announced the expansion of the programme, by doubling the number of places available this year, so that more headteachers can have access to this valuable support. More information on the programme can be accessed at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-and-fe-leaders-service/.To help schools and colleges to implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing, the Department is offering all state funded schools and colleges a grant to pay for senior mental health lead training. More than 13,800 (58%) of eligible schools and colleges have now received a senior mental health lead training grant. This is part of the Governments’ commitment to offer this training to all schools and colleges by 2025.Along with the publication of the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter on GOV.UK, the Department also signposts to mental health and wellbeing resources for education staff. This includes Education Support’s free, confidential 24 hour helpline for staff working in education. Details for the helpline are available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-you/helpline/.The Department is working proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind mental health and wellbeing issues, and to improve policies and interventions.

Oak National Academy: Publications

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has been involved in Oak National Academy's commercial content licensing discussions with publishers.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with the publishers of educational resources on the matter of commercial content licensing.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State for Education has not had any discussions with the publishers of educational resources on the matter of commercial content licensing.Oak National Academy has been discussing third party content for its curriculum resources with publishers and other rights holders. The Department wants to support these discussions and has made contact with relevant publishers to this end, in order to support Oak’s aims to reduce teacher workload and improve pupil outcomes.

Children: Personal Names

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of allowing children to change their names and pronouns in primary school on their psychological health.

Nick Gibb: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The Department appreciates that gender is a complex and sensitive issue, which is why we are working with my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities, to develop guidance to support schools and colleges in relation to gender questioning children.In developing the draft guidance, the Department has considered the interim report on the independent review of gender identity services for children and young people (the Cass Review), which is available at: https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/.The interim report states that social transition is not a neutral act and neither is doing nothing, and makes the point that it may have significant effects on children and young people, in terms of their psychological functioning. The report is also clear that better information is needed about outcomes.The Department will publish the draft guidance for schools and colleges, for public consultation, in the coming weeks.

Sign Language: Education

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to introduce funding for adults in families with deaf children to learn British Sign Language; and whether funding is available for local authorities that wish to commission sign language courses.

Claire Coutinho: Funding is available through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) for qualifications in, or focussing on, British Sign Language (BSL), up to and including level 2. Approximately 60% of the AEB has been devolved to Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority, who determine which provision to fund for learners who live in their areas. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) provides the remaining funding for learners who live in non-devolved areas.ESFA funded AEB qualifications include, for example, the Level 1 Award in BSL which allows learners to communicate in BSL on a range of topics that involve simple, everyday language use, thereby giving them the basic skills and confidence in production and reception of BSL. It will depend on an individual’s circumstances as to whether they are entitled to free provision or are expected to meet part of the cost through co-funding. Where community learning providers offer BSL courses, those providers are responsible for determining the course fees, including levels of fee remission.For some BSL courses, Advanced Learner Loans (ALLs) are available and parents can find more information about which qualifications are eligible here: https://www.qualifications.education.gov.uk/Search. More general information about the provision of ALLs is available at: https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learner-loan.For parents learning BSL on an AEB funded course, there is also additional support available. The AEB provides funding to colleges and providers to help adult learners overcome barriers preventing them from accessing learning. Providers have discretion to help learners meet costs such as transport, accommodation, books, equipment, and childcare. Learning support funding also helps colleges and training providers to meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and the costs of reasonable adjustments, as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

Offences against Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government response to recommendations 7 and 8 of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published in May 2023, CP 844, what progress she has made on implementing the commitment to explore proposals for professional registration of the residential childcare workforce made in the Government’s response to the Care Review’s Final Report, Stable Homes, Built on Love published in February 2023; and if she will make a statement. .

Claire Coutinho: The government recognises the important contribution of the residential childcare workforce in caring for some of the most vulnerable children in our society. It is vital that we ensure they have the skills required to safeguard, support and care for them.The department accepts in principle that staff working in care roles in children's homes should be registered, as recommended by both the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (recommendation 7) and the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The department is progressing our consideration of how best to take this forward alongside work to develop a programme to support improvements in the quality of leadership and management in the children’s homes sector. The department will announce further details in due course.In response to recommendation 8 of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the government has accepted the need for registration of staff in young offender institutions and secure training centres, noting that an internal register would be the most appropriate for the relatively small workforce. The department is currently exploring proposals and is still exploring with key stakeholders how it may operate.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of working with the Imagination Library to increase services for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of working with the Imagination Library to increase services for people from the gypsy, Roma and traveller communities.

Claire Coutinho: The Imagination Library promotes book-sharing, an activity that is key to early language development.Over £28 million has been invested to support early language development and the home learning environment, with priority given to low-income families and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is delivered through the 75 local authorities developing family hubs through the £300 million Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. Family hubs aim to improve all families’ access to a range of services, including connecting families to local SEND support.The department is also investing in specialist voluntary sector activity to help family hub networks better identify and support children in their early years with SEND and create local provision that is inclusive for all. This work also aims to improve the take-up and quality of provision of speech and language pathways for children with SEND.

Children: Asylum

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have gone missing from (a) local authority and (b) foster care in each month in each of the last 10 years.

Claire Coutinho: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England onlyThe department takes the issue of any child going missing, either from home or from local authority care, extremely seriously. Local authorities are legally responsible for protecting all children, regardless of where they go missing from.When a child is found, they must be offered an independent return interview and local authorities, police, and voluntary services should work together to build a comprehensive picture of why the child went missing and to understand what support they may need in the future to prevent them from going missing again.The latest available information on children missing from care relates to the year ending 31 March 2022 and is available in the ‘Children looked after in England (including adoption): 2021 to 2022’ statistical release, at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d3f7d671-6341-4294-fa64-08db73cb8f1d. This data has been collected since 2014/15. The vast majority (90%) of missing incidents for all looked after children last for two days or less.

Free School Meals: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school students receive free school meals in Stockport constituency.

Nick Gibb: The Department publishes figures on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals. The most recently published figures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. In the 2022/23 academic year, 2,191 primary and 513 secondary pupils were eligible for free school meals in the Stockport constituency.

Apprentices: Taxation

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2023 to Question 190594, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the return of apprenticeship levy funding to the Treasury.

Robert Halfon: The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system. It supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, which is more than double what was spent on apprenticeships in 2010/11 in cash terms.Employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, therefore total annual spend on apprenticeships depends on the choices made by employers. While the department has seen some underspends in the apprenticeship budget in previous years, this will not always be the case. In the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the apprenticeship budget in England was spent, supporting employers of all sizes to build the skilled workforces they need.Employers can now choose from over 670 high-quality apprenticeship standards in a variety of sectors to help meet their skills needs. The department also continues to encourage employers to make greater use of apprenticeships by introducing flexible training models like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, which are making apprenticeships more accessible for all sectors. The department has also improved the transfer system to make it easier for levy paying employers to find other employers who wish to take on new apprentices with transferred funds.As well as funding new apprenticeships in levy-paying employers, the English apprenticeships budget also supports new apprenticeships in employers that do not pay the levy, existing apprentices that started in previous years, English and mathematics tuition for apprentices and additional payments to employers, providers and apprentices.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: ICT

Sir Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has invited (a) barristers and (b) solicitors to (i) access test cases and (ii) test other aspects of the Common Platform system.

Mike Freer: Whenever new functionality is developed for Common Platform, it goes through several stages of testing. For significant changes, we ensure the functionality is tested by the main groups of users who are most impacted by the system, and rigorously test it in early adopter courts to ensure it is suitable for use in a live court environment.A handful of solicitors were invited to test the new functionality for the digitalisation of the Pre-Trial Preparation and Better Case Management forms late last year. The feedback provided gave valuable insight into the usability of the forms by practitioners.Now that we are planning the next phase of implementation, where barristers are a critical user group, we are enhancing their role in our implementation approach. In addition to the existing opportunities they have to provide their input on design, we plan on providing opportunities for barristers to join sessions to test the system and we will be issuing further communications to raise awareness on that approach soon.We will be undertaking user acceptance testing with defence advocates, including barristers, as we did in November 2022 before moving the Preparation for Effective Trials and Better Case Management forms to a digital format.

Legal Aid Scheme: Grants

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Legal Support Sector Sustainability grant.

Mike Freer: In March 2021, the Ministry of Justice provided £2m of funding via the Sector Sustainability Grant to continue its support of the not-for-profit legal advice sector throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.This grant supported 66 legal advice organisations in England and Wales to swiftly adapt their services to deliver remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.The end of grant evaluation report was published on 6 April 2023: Sector Sustainability Grant Evaluation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The evaluation sets out that the grant was largely successful in meeting its aims, particularly around ensuring that grant recipients remained operational and, where required, could adjust their capacity and delivery methods.

Administration of Justice: ICT

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Lawtech grant.

Mike Freer: The Lawtech grant funded the establishment of LawtechUK by Tech Nation in November 2019 to help the legal sector overcome legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers to digital transformation. For the financial year 2020 to 2021, a total of £941,000 was awarded to Tech Nation.An independent impact assessment of LawtechUK conducted in 2022 indicated that the programme has been effective in achieving the objectives of the grant, including by helping to solidify the UK’s position as a leader in lawtech. A summary of the impact assessment was published on the LawtechUK website: LawtechUK Impact Assessment report 2022.

Administration of Justice: Grants

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Litigants in Person Support Strategy grant.

Mike Freer: From April 2015 until September 2022, the Ministry of Justice invested £1.45m per year in non-competed core funding via the Litigants in Person Support Strategy. The grant directly funded four national organisations: Law for Life, LawWorks, RCJ Advice, and Support Through Court. Each of the four organisations worked collaboratively to deliver the strategy which aimed to improve the experience of litigants in person navigating the legal process.The funding was used to cover core costs which supported the organisations to deliver their services. This included resourcing and equipment costs and, as a result, service delivery was not routinely monitored and evaluated.In line with Cabinet Office Standards and recognising the need for greater emphasis on data and evidence, organisations have been required to follow a competitive process when bidding for grant funding. This includes the recent Help Accessing Legal Support Grant which ran from October 2022 until June 2023 and the current Improving Outcomes Through Legal Support grant which provides £10.4m of funding to support services including to litigants in person from 1 July until March 2025. A key element of these grants is monitoring and evaluation which will help us determine the effectiveness of different methods of support.

Magistrates' Courts: Young People

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Magistrates' Court Mock Trial Competitions grant.

Mike Freer: As part of the grant management process finance and performance reviews of the Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial Competition Grant take place annually. A grant award of £25,000 was made to the Citizenship Foundation in the financial year 2020/2021 to support an interactive programme that introduces state school students aged 12-14 to the criminal justice system through the workings of the magistrates’ court. The award has made a contribution to giving young people an understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, knowledge of the legal system and societal skills for later life, such as advocacy and constructive influencing.

Courts: ICT

Sir Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Common Platform for enabling barristers to transfer cases without a transfer being undertaken by a defence solicitor.

Mike Freer: Phase 1 of Common Platform was not designed for the use of Crown Court judges or barristers. It replaces the systems used by HMCTS staff in the Crown and magistrates’ courts and is used by magistrates’ court users to view case materials.Phase 2 of Common Platform will introduce new functionality that will enable Crown Court cases to be handled on Common Platform. Until then the Crown Court Digital Case System (DCS) continues to be the single document repository for Crown Court Cases. Barristers are expected to continue accessing the information they need from DCS and do not need to access Common Platform other than to check into a case when arriving at the hearing.Having worked with defence practitioners throughout the design stage of the programme, we were aware that once Crown Court cases are fully managed on Common Platform, there is a requirement for barristers to be able to give access to cases to other barristers, at short notice and at unsociable hours. This requirement was intended to be met when other Phase 2 functionality is introduced.The absence of this flexibility in Phase 1 does mean that if a case changes hands at short notice, counsel attending the hearing may not be able to check into the case, and a process has been put in place for court staff to complete the check-in on their behalf in this scenario.In early April 2023 we learned that, despite all the above, the inability to reassign cases was causing issues for barristers.Now that we are aware of the issue, the functionality to enable greater flexibility has been reprioritised and will be delivered sooner than planned. The development teams are analysing this change now and we should soon be able to provide a time estimate for its release.We are grateful that this issue was raised with us, and welcome further feedback to improve the Common Platform for all our users.

Courts: ICT

Sir Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had recent discussions with criminal barristers on the adequacy of the Common Platform.

Mike Freer: HMCTS is accountable to, and regularly engages with, the Lord Chancellor on Common Platform. The Lord Chancellor sees court reform as a top departmental priority, and is fully committed to engaging with the legal profession on all the department’s priorities, including Common Platform. He is looking forward to meeting with representatives of the Criminal Bar Association in mid-July to discuss the priorities that they wish to engage on.Throughout the rollout of Common Platform, we have engaged extensively with the defence community on the wider reform landscape and the design of Common Platform functionality. We have done this through a range of formal engagement groups with representatives from the defence community. The feedback we have received has been extremely valuable and provided a wealth of information that has been fed into our designs. Defence practitioner input is particularly important for informing the next phase of implementation which will bring significant changes and improved functionality for the judiciary, counsel, and other parties in the Crown Court.

Human Rights: Reform

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the debate on UK reform of its human rights legislation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 21 June 2023.

Mike Freer: The Government has noted the debate and resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly on legislation currently before this Parliament. The Government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. We will always make sure that our laws work in the best interests of the UK.Having carefully considered the Government’s legislative programme in the round, we have decided not to proceed with the Bill of Rights Bill. The Government remains committed to a human rights framework that is up to date and fit for purpose and works for the British people.

Rape: Prosecutions

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of rape charge rates in England and Wales.

Edward Argar: Through the Rape Review, we are making sustained progress on our ambitions to increase the number of referrals to the CPS, CPS charges, and Crown Court receipts for adult rape cases back to 2016 levels. 2016 levels are an ambitious target – convictions in 2016 were 30% higher than in 2010 under Labour. According to the latest quarter of data we have either exceeded or are on track to exceed each ambition:o There were 1,079 total police referrals, more than double the 2019 quarterly average of 461 and up by 41% compared to the 2016 quarterly average of 766. (Oct-Dec 2022)o There were 472 CPS charges, nearly double the 2019 quarterly average of 244, just 12% below the 2016 quarterly average of 538. (Oct-Dec 2022)o The number of adult rape Crown Court receipts continued to increase in the first quarter of 2023 with 605 Crown Court receipts, exceeding our ambition of 553. (Jan- March 2023) Crucially we are increasing the number of cases we are bringing to court. Adult rape prosecutions continue to rise, up to 1,710 in 2022, an increase of 4% on 2010 under Labour.

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offences: Finance

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Critical Support Fund.

Edward Argar: In 2021/22, the Ministry of Justice opened a £2.8 million national fund called the Critical Support Fund, available to support organisations via Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASAF) providers. The aim of the fund was to meet exceptional need for domestic abuse and sexual violence services due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. £1.5 million of this funding was allocated to community-based support, and £1.3 million was allocated to ISVA and IDVA roles on a 2-year basis. Data on the impact of this fund and other grants to PCCs is collected through regular monitoring exercises, which allows us to see the number of referrals made and the number of victims supported. This data is analysed to help inform policy development and commissioning decisions, such as an increase in funding for ISVA and IDVA roles. However, this data is not currently publicly available.

Prisons: Overcrowding

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the number of cells that are overcrowded in each prison.

Damian Hinds: All prisoner accommodation is certified in line with the Certified Prisoner Accommodation Framework. Cells are only shared where a Prison Group Director has certified them to be of an adequate size and condition. The process of certification requires every prison to record all cells that have been assessed as suitable for crowding, and this information is held centrally.Crowding data is published annually as part of the HMPPS Annual Digest. The 2022/23 version of the Annual Digest is due to be published on 27 July 2023.

Crimes of Violence: Young People

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Pathfinder Reducing Serious Youth Violence West Midlands grant.

Damian Hinds: The final evaluation report published in April 2022, illustrates that this pathfinder, funded through the Youth Justice Board targeted grant, has had a very positive impact on families, parents and children in the West Midlands area. Further, it is a good example of effective collaborative working between the seven Youth Justice Services (YJSs) and West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit.Qualitative and quantitative data were collected with parents, staff, and YJSs. The main aim of the project was to contribute to a reduction of serious violence across the areas. This is related to a theory of change which aims to demonstrate that positive engagement of parents, through increasing their skills and resilience, will lead to better support for their child. The quantitative findings show that there was a significant increase in perceived engagement with the pathfinder and participants’ wellbeing had a positive impact on parent’s wellbeing and confidence with parenting. The project has empowered parents and enabled them to access the help that is available. The qualitative research explored the process of implementing the project across the seven YJS, barriers, and sought to understand the impact on parents engaged with the project. The findings highlighted that while referral processes varied according to the YJS, they showed more success where they were embedded into core YJS practices, supported by senior management, and where close working relationships were built with engagement with the pathfinder. Parental knowledge, resourcing and active involvement is evidenced as crucial for children’s engagement and completion of youth justice sentences[1].The evaluation report states that more time is needed to evidence the impact on children’s offending behaviours. However, the findings in the full report present an opportunity for the services within the West Midlands pathfinder to reflect on the successes to date, further share the learning, and to use the recommendations presented in the report to further develop the provision; this includes the suggestion of developing a robust outcomes framework to clearly identify measurable impact on parental efficacy and wellbeing, as well as any wider benefits in relation to outcomes for children and the youth justice system.The grant funding received was vital in achieving the above successful outcomes and represents good value for money in terms of overall outcome in the community. In Coventry YJS, the Pathfinder led onto their Parents/Carers Group which supports parents/carers of children in the YJS to strengthen relationships with their children, look out for signs of exploitation, and to provide a support network to parents.[1] Brooks-Wilson, S., (2020), 'Rethinking youth justice journeys: complex needs, impeded capabilities and criminalisation', Youth Justice, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 309-327

Women's Centres: Grants

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Women's Community Sector Core Costs Funding grant.

Damian Hinds: The Women’s Community Sector Core Costs Funding Grant 2020-21 provided one-off grants to women’s community sector organisations to stabilise their financial position and ensure the continued availability of community-based support for women in or at risk of contact with the criminal justice system. Each organisation that received funding signed a grant agreement that included a requirement to provide a monitoring report following the conclusion of the grant funding period. The monitoring report required organisations to report on whether the grant had: enabled additional support for service users; had improved or expanded partnership working; and the impact on the organisation’s financial sustainability. We have recently awarded further core costs grant funding for the period 2022 to 2025 and we will be further developing the evidence base for the effectiveness of this type of funding through monitoring and evaluation of outcomes and performance.

Local Leadership and Integration Fund

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Local Leadership and Integration Fund.

Damian Hinds: The Local Leadership and Integration Fund (LLIF) provided grant funding to 11 local leaders and agencies. It was designed to recognise that the issues experienced by those leaving prison are often specific to the local area and therefore was designed to support local leaders to work together in partnerships to develop innovative ways to tackle reoffending that were tailored to their localities.Evaluation is a cornerstone of LLIF. We are conducting a process evaluation to understand more about how projects are delivered at a local level. Where design and project participant sample size allow, we are also conducting impact and economic evaluations. These will demonstrate the impacts of each project and the value for money. Findings will also help to generate new, tailored approaches that can be scaled up to help shape future policy. Results will be published once the evaluation is finalised.

Civil Society: Infrastructure

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Infrastructure Support for Small and Medium Sized VCSE Organisations grant.

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Engagement to Motivate Offenders to Participate in the Arts grant.

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Welfare Support to British Citizens Imprisoned Abroad grant.

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the National Prison Radio Service grant.

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Steps to Success grants.

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the HMPPS Innovation Grant Programme grant.

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the National Association of Official Prison Visitors Infrastructure Support grant.

Damian Hinds: Grant-funded activity across His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is monitored, quality-assured and measured through the Grants Governance Board, which has oversight of all grants funded by HMPPS, both prior to award and throughout the lifetime of the grant.HMPPS ensures all grants awarded to voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations are effective in helping to reduce reoffending, delivered in accordance with the Government Grants Functional Standard.Grant managers are responsible for monitoring delivery, and agreed outcomes and budgets are defined in quarterly and end of year Reports. A Senior Responsible Officer will have oversight of grants within their specific business area and will be required to provide assurance in relation each grant, including the governance, risk management, and financial aspects.

Offences against Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Government response to recommendation 5, of the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published in May 2023, CP 844, what assessment he has made of the (a) comparative effectiveness and (b) traumatic impact of restraint techniques that (i) do and (ii) do not inflict pain; for what reasons restraint techniques that do not inflict pain are not considered sufficient for the purposes of behaviour management and restraint in the youth justice system; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds: All restraint techniques, including those that are pain inducing, have been assessed within the Risk of Injury/Harm Matrix that sits within the medical section of the current Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint (MMPR) syllabus. Techniques are scored on the likelihood of an injury occurring and the consequence of any subsequent injury. This assessment is carried out by an independent medical advisor.The emotional and psychological impact of restraint is assessed through de-briefs carried out with children following each incident of restraint. Revised guidance in this critical area of work has recently been published by the Youth Justice Service and allows the child to de-brief with a member of staff that they choose and to be supported by the advocacy service should they wish. It allows the child to talk through the lead up to the incident, the incident itself and what support they may need in the future to prevent re-occurrence. In addition to this the Independent Restraint Review Panel seeks the views of children on the issues of restraint during each visit that it makes to an establishment.The effectiveness of restraint techniques (both those that do and do not inflict pain) are manually reviewed every 12 months. Additionally, effectiveness will be dependent on factors such as the comparative size, strength of both the young person and staff and the levels of aggression being displayed, all of which may inform how robust a technique is required.   Significant changes have been made to the MMPR training delivered to staff in the youth estate. The new syllabus focuses on positive behaviour management towards children and seeks to reinforce good behaviours and enhance the ability of staff to manage and de-escalate behaviour, wherever possible, in a child-centred manner to keep restraint to low levels. Physical restraint techniques that do not inflict pain are a sufficient response in most cases.Restraints which involve the use of pain inducing techniques will only be applied in exceptional circumstances. As the Charlie Taylor Review into Pain Inducing Techniques acknowledged, it is essential that staff are trained for every aspect of their role, including where they may need to intervene to prevent serious physical harm to a child or adult. In recognition of this, staff will continue to be trained in the safe use of pain-inducing techniques as part of an intentionally separate package of emergency interventions which are reserved for scenarios where they may need to prevent serious physical harm.

Department of Health and Social Care

World Health Organization

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his polices of the amendments to World Health Organization's International Health Regulations; and when he plans to publish his response to those proposed amendments.

Will Quince: The negotiations taking place at the World Health Organization (WHO) on the proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) are Member State led and no text or amendments have been agreed yet. We anticipate negotiations to continue until the 76th WHO World Health Assembly in May 2024.The United Kingdom continues to negotiate the text of the amendments to the IHR to ensure they deliver on our priorities and provide the tools to achieve improvements globally in key areas of health emergency preparedness, prevention, and response.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Podiatry

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the average waiting time for new patients for a musculoskeletal podiatry clinic appointment in Newham; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of waiting times for musculoskeletal podiatry clinic appointments in Newham.

Helen Whately: Data is not held on average waiting times for new patients for musculoskeletal podiatry appointments in Newham. The musculoskeletal service in Newham saw over 1,200 patients in the month of May 2023. It is currently meeting targets for seeing at least 90% of urgent referrals within 10 working days.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Adult Social Care Omicron Support Fund.

Helen Whately: In recognition of the increased pressures on existing funding sources caused by the Omicron variant, the Government made available £60 million of additional funding for January 2022 through the Omicron Support Fund.As this funding was made available in January 2022, it was not included in the Government grants statistics publication for 2020 to 2021. However, it was included in the publication for 2021 to 2022, which is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/government-grants-statistics-2021-to-2022.This fund was unringfenced, meaning that local authorities could prioritise the use of their allocations based on local resource and need. Local authorities submitted spending reports as part of our monitoring, showing use of their funding on the key measures outlined in the grant conditions, which were confirmed as the appropriate activities at that time. No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Omicron Support Fund.

Cancer: Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that cancer plans in each integrated care board have a public health focus.

Helen Whately: Improved public health is essential for reducing the incidence of cancer, in particular reducing levels of smoking and obesity. Integrated care boards (ICB) and local authorities are expected to ensure the focused strategies within the integrated care system are coherent and reinforce one another.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to change NHS practices to reflect any lessons learned from countries with higher cancer survival rates.

Helen Whately: While NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care take note of changes in cancer services around the world, it can be difficult to directly compare cancer services in England with other countries. The different factors and methods used in such are very complex and subject to interpretation of issues such as public health, risk factors, and patient pathways.Diagnosing cancer early, when often there are more curative treatment options, is associated with better survival. The NHS Long Term Plan outlines the ambition to improve the stage at which cancer is diagnosed and to improved cancer survival and the NHS is scoping, piloting, and implementing a range of initiatives in support of this.

Bowel Cancer: Screening

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for (a) endoscopies and (b) other bowel cancer diagnostic tests.

Helen Whately: £2.3 billion was awarded at Spending Review 21 to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services, including a number delivering endoscopy services. The remainder will increase diagnostic capacity, including endoscopy services, and other productivity improvements including digital transformation.Direct Spending Review 21 investment in Endoscopy capacity has resulted in a net additional 31 endoscopy rooms in 2022/23, of which five were in CDCs. To date, NHS England have also approved additional investment, expected to deliver a further 25 net endoscopy rooms, of which five are to be in CDCs.Alongside investment in physical capacity, several schemes are already underway to grow the endoscopy workforce including international recruitment of Clinical Fellows to enable back-fill for gastroenterology trainees to complete training.

Podiatry: Greater Manchester

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the current waiting time is and how many people are currently waiting for a podiatry appointment in (a) Stockport constituency, (b) Stockport borough and (c) Greater Manchester.

Helen Whately: The Community Health Services waiting list data shows the total number of people waiting for adult podiatry and podiatric surgery services within Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB) in April 2023 was 8,125. The information requested is not held at constituency or borough level. The data does not provide information on current waiting times but shows the number of people who have been waiting for periods of time.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve NHS sexual healthcare provision (a) nationally and (b) in Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle constituency.

Neil O'Brien: We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England. The Department published a HIV Action Plan in 2021 setting out our actions during 2022-2025 to move towards ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Great progress has been made during the first year of its implementation, as set out by the annual report to Parliament published on 7 June. In 2022 we published the Women’s Health Strategy for England setting out our 10-year ambitions and actions to improve health for women and girls.Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services. We are providing more than £3.5 billion this financial year to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, increasing to £3.575 billion in 2024/25.Regarding sexual health provision in Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle constituency, Hull and East Riding have integrated sexual and reproductive health services that work to ensure that residents receive the best care, advice and treatment possible. The service continues to develop with the support of the Local Authority and the NHS to meet the needs of the communities it serves.The Conifer Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Service is based in Hull City Centre and holds clinics at various health centres around the East Riding, including at Hessle Health Centre. It is a progressive and innovative service provided by City Health Care Partnership CIC, where Genitourinary Medicine and Family Planning, Community Gynaecology, Social Services, non-statutory services and voluntary services work together to offer a holisticTARGET DATE 07/07/2023service to meet the differing needs of diverse populations in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Primary Health Care: Rents

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many District Valuer Services assessments for new primary health care premises have taken place in each of the last three calendar years; and how many and what proportion of those assessments resulted in an agreement on the market rent between the commissioner and the District Valuer Service.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many District Valuer Services assessments for primary health care premises were (a) disputed and (b) resulted in a failure to agree on market rent in each of the last three calendar years.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many proposed new primary health care premises were not progressed to construction stage as a result of a District Valuer assessment of the proposed market rent in each of the last three calendar years.

Neil O'Brien: The Department does not hold this information centrally.

Dentistry

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to introduce a system to help people locate local dental surgeries accepting new NHS patients.

Neil O'Brien: From 25 November 2022 it became a contractual responsibility for NHS dental practices to ensure their NHS.UK profile is kept up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. Practices are required to update their information at least once every 90 days, including information on whether they are accepting new patients.

Cancer: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to fund childhood cancer research programmes.

Will Quince: The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was over £101 million for 2021/22. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including childhood cancer. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with protected characteristics are represented in clinical cancer clinical trials.

Will Quince: In March 2021, the Government released the report, "Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery." Subsequent implementation plans set out aims to enhance access to research for all patients, including those with protected characteristics. This will include enhancing the use of data to support recruitment and improving processes to make study set-up and delivery faster, more efficient, and more innovative, so that clinical research participation is more accessible than ever.

Electronic Cigarettes: Packaging

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on measures to tackle the illicit vaping trade.

Neil O'Brien: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential. The Government is taking action to tackle the illicit vaping trade. On the 11 April 2023, we announced £3 million for a new specialised illicit vaping enforcement squad. This squad will tackle underage vape sales as well as removing illicit products from the market.National Trading Standards have now begun setting up the operation, gathering intelligence, training staff and bolstering capacity and will begin field work later this year.

Primary Health Care

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new primary health care premises were completed in each of the last three calendar years.

Neil O'Brien: This information requested is not held centrally.

Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve equipment for radiotherapy services.

Helen Whately: Since 2016, around £162 million of central investment has been made to replace or upgrade around 100 radiotherapy machines so that every radiotherapy service has access to modern equipment capable of delivering innovative treatment techniques. This investment was in addition to the investment that NHS trusts make to maintain their infrastructure.From April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines sits with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS (2022 to 2025) and the recent Capital Planning Guidance. This guidance states that integrated care systems will need to develop replacement plans as part of their multi-year capital plans, in partnership with specialised commissioners, Cancer Alliances and Radiotherapy Operational Delivery Networks, based on an assessment of equipment age, capacity and demand, opportunities to improve access and service risk.NHS England is currently undertaking a stocktake of Linear Accelerator age, which will be completed in summer 2023 and is working with partners to undertake a demand and capacity review which will complete in 2023/24.

Memory Clinics: Waiting Lists

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been waiting for a memory assessment in England for more than (a) 12 months and (b) 18 months as of 27 June 2023.

Helen Whately: The data requested is not collected centrally.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of (a) 14 March 2023, (b) 14 April 2023, (c) 16 May 2023 and (d) 16 June 2023 regarding his constituent, case reference JB40904.

Helen Whately: I replied to the hon. Member on 30 June 2023.

Cancer: Health Services

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) diagnosis times and (b) cancer treatment pathways; and whether he plans to include this in the 10-year Cancer Plan.

Helen Whately: The Government worked with NHS England to publish the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care in February 2022. The Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.This will further be supported by the additional £3.3 billion of funding in each of the next two years announced at the Autumn Statement to support the NHS, enabling rapid action to improve emergency, elective and primary care performance towards pre-pandemic levels.NHS England’s recent letter ‘Elective care 2023/24 Priorities’ set out the progress to date in reducing the number of patients with urgent suspected cancer waiting longer than 62 days and meeting the faster diagnosis standard for the first time in February. It also confirmed the ongoing priorities to make further progress to improve performance and long waits, prioritise diagnostic capacity and focus on cancer pathway redesignThe Government announced on 24 January that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy. Cancer will be a significant element of the new Strategy, and we will ensure that all the learning from the over 5,000 submissions to the call for evidence will be considered. This will replace the suggested 10-year cancer plan.

Dementia: Coastal Areas

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the dementia diagnosis rate in coastal communities; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the National Health Service priorities and operational planning guidance 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has been commissioned by NHS England to develop a resource to support investigation of the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates. The aim of this work is to provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support at a local level to enhance diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.

Podiatry: Waiting Lists

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of waiting times for podiatry appointments on (a) levels of obesity, (b) levels of diabetes, (c) levels of cardiovascular disease, (d) the number of preventable limb amputations, (e) levels of musculoskeletal conditions and (d) NHS budgets.

Helen Whately: No assessment has been made.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making (a) the Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor and (b) other glucose sensors available to people with type-one diabetes.

Helen Whately: Both intermittent and real-time Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) are available to people with type one diabetes under the NHS. CGMs can be provided under NHS prescription and sensors collected from local pharmacies.The Dexcom One is one model of CGM that is available under the NHS. Currently the Dexcom G6 model is being considered for provision as part of the Hybrid Closed Loop (HCL) system. The HCL system includes a higher specification CGM with an algorithm that ‘speaks’ to the insulin pump to adjust the amount of insulin the pump is administering as necessary.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have been assessing the cost effectiveness of HCL and are due to publish their recommendations soon.Different HCL systems are available and some are built by combining interoperable devices from different companies. Because of the large number of combinations of components available to the NHS, this appraisal considers HCL systems as a class of technologies rather than individual components or systems. The Dexcom G6 is included in this assessment.Hybrid closed loops systems are only recommended if the companies and NHS England agree a cost-effective price for the systems on behalf of the relevant health bodies.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the policies of the New Zealand government on tackling inequalities in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

Helen Whately: No assessment has been made.

Essential Tremor: Magnetic Resonance Imagers

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for MR-Guided Focussed Ultrasound for Essential Tremor.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many facilities have a MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound treatment for Essential Tremor in the UK as of June 2023.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average patient waiting time for treatment using MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound treatment for essential tremor (a) was in each of the last two years and (b) is as of 27 June 2023.

Helen Whately: The Department has not assessed the average patient waiting time for Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (TcMRgFUS) thalamotomy. This is a specialised area of treatment and data on waiting times is not collected by NHS England at this level. Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (TcMRgFUS) thalamotomy is recommended for the treatment of medication refractory essential tremor, in patients that are not eligible for deep brain stimulation, within the criteria set out in this policy which is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/transcranial-magnetic-resonance-guided-focused-ultrasound-thalamotomy-for-treatment-of-medication-refractory-essential-tremor/ It is estimated that there will be up to 150 patients that meet the inclusion criteria per annum in England. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (London) and The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust (Liverpool) provide this treatment in England and can meet the patient demand associated with this treatment in line with the policy set out by NHS England.

Hospices: Children

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with integrated care boards on the future of the NHS England Children’s Hospice Grant.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to allocate the £25 million of funding for children’s hospices in 2024-25 as a centrally distributed NHS England grant.

Helen Whately: NHS England is investing £25 million in the grant this financial year, to provide care closer to home for those seriously ill as and when they need it. NHS England has now confirmed that it will be renewing the grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices. NHS England will confirm the funding mechanism and individual hospice allocations in due course.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken for research into cancer treatments to reach clinical trials.

Will Quince: The National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) invests in infrastructure to speed up translation of scientific discoveries into new or improved treatments, from early translational research through to clinical trials. This includes the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs), NHS/University partnerships which bridge the gap between basic science and early phase clinical trials. There are 20 NIHR BRCs across England based in our leading NHS/University partnerships, which collectively are receiving £126m over five years to support cancer research.UK Research and Innovation Medical Research Council (MRC) provides funding across the full pathway from basic biology to application, actively supporting researchers as they transition discoveries through translation towards patient benefits. This includes funding for fundamental and mechanistic biology and translational research through to early phase 2a clinical trials. MRC's main translational route, the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme, has an annual budget of over £30 million, for which cancer research is strongly competitive.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish guidance to Integrated Care Boards on the availability of antivirals for immunocompromised patients with a covid infection.

Will Quince: From 27 June, the pathway for COVID-19 treatments transitioned from the former national pandemic-specific arrangements to more routine local arrangements for assessment and treatment This transition follows the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance that was published 29 March 2023 and which recommended two treatments for non-hospitalised patients at highest risk, and one treatment for use in those hospitalised due to COVID-19. These are Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir) from Pfizer, Xevudy (sotrovimab) from GlaxoSmithKline and RoActemra (tocilizumab) from Roche.This guidance will ensure that everyone with COVID-19 at the highest risk of progressing to severe disease, will have access to clinically and cost-effective treatments, which will be routinely available to eligible patients on the National Health Service. The NHS is required to have medicines available within 90 days of a positive NICE appraisal. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have therefore had up to 90 days to make funding available for these treatments and to secure arrange local access through routine NHS pathways.NHS England continues to meet with regional colleagues on a weekly basis to help them to facilitate the local transition and to understand if ICBs have any new or emerging issues requiring support.

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside: Finance

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many individual funding application requests made by clinicians were turned down by Cheshire West and Merseyside Integrated Care Board as of June 2023.

Helen Whately: Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) validated data is collated for completed (closed) applications each month, as such, the ICB can only provide data up to May 2023. The following tables shows the approved and not approved Individual Funding Request (IFR) applications received between July 2022 and May 2023.NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB IFR applications2022JulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecemberApproved111112Not Approved233636405726Total243737415828 NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB IFR applications2023JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayApproved01001Not Approved2230323132Total2231323133

Health Services: Protective Clothing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Health and Safety Executive has issued recent guidance to (a) NHS England and (b) the UK Health Security Agency on the use of face coverings for workers in health care settings.

Will Quince: The Health and Safety Executive has not issued any specific advice or guidance to the UK Health Security Agency or NHS England on the use of face coverings for workers in health care settings. Such guidance would routinely be produced by NHS England and implemented through NHS England’s National Infection Prevention and Control Manual. The National Infection Prevention and Control Manual, published in April 2022, is used by health care providers in all healthcare settings in England.

Dietetics: Prescriptions

Sarah Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of extending independent prescribing responsibilities to dieticians on (a) patient care and (b) efficiency.

Neil O'Brien: No assessment has been made as there are no current plans to extend medicines responsibilities further to include independent prescribing for dietitians. Dietitians can already supply and administer medicines under Patient Group Directions and train to use supplementary prescribing.

Ophthalmic Services: Special Educational Needs

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the results of the Special School Eye Care Service trial; and what steps he is taking to support the long-term commissioning of that service.

Neil O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement HCWS861 that I gave to the House on 19 June 2023 regarding Sight Testing in Special Schools. The Department will continue to support NHS England with implementation, including considering whether any regulatory changes may be necessary. The written statement is available at the following link: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-06-19/hcws861

Smoking

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) Cancer Research UK and (b) other relevant stakeholders on the Smokefree 2030 campaign.

Neil O'Brien: The Government consults widely with stakeholders on the Smokefree 2030 ambition. My officials regularly meet with organisations such as Cancer Research UK, as well as other relevant individuals and organisations.

Smoking

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's progress towards achieving his Smokefree 2030 targets.

Neil O'Brien: In April, we announced a range of measures to help more people in England quit smoking. These include a new national swap to stop scheme to provide vapes to one million smokers, and a financial incentives scheme to help all pregnant smokers to quit. We are confident that these new measures, in addition to the actions we are already taking, will set us on course to achieve our Smokefree 2030 ambition, and we will monitor progress.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure there is equal access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis across the country.

Neil O'Brien: The HIV prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is routinely available in specialist sexual health services throughout the country since March 2020 and we invested more than £34 million in PrEP in 2020/21 and 2021/22. PrEP funding has been fully included within the public health grant since 2022/23 and funds appointments and testing in sexual health services, whilst NHS England covers the costs of the drug itself. As part of our HIV Action Plan implementation, we are working together with key stakeholders to improve access and equity to HIV PrEP for key population groups. The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group is working to develop a roadmap, based on the PrEP Access and Equity Task and Finish group’s recommendations, to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access to PrEP for key populations, including in settings other than specialist sexual health services. We will consider our response to the recommendations in due course.

HIV Infection

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress on the target of no new HIV infections by 2030.

Neil O'Brien: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes the monitoring of progress against the UNAIDS targets and publishes these as part of the HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation framework.The UKHSA use the number of new HIV diagnoses first made in England as a proxy for HIV transmissions. The number of new HIV diagnoses first made in England fell from 2,986 in 2019 to 2,023 in 2021. However, this fall was not equal between demographic groups and occurred in the context of reduced HIV testing and increased proportion of late diagnoses.To achieve the UNAIDS target, several areas need to be prioritised including HIV testing numbers exceeding levels seen in 2019, ensuring patients not retained in care are re-integrated and supported, and monitoring inequalities in HIV prevention and care to inform accessible and culturally-competent interventions.

Health Professions: Migrant Workers

Dame Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the four-month visa extension for newly trained international medical graduates announced in the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, published by NHS England on 9 May 2023, will apply across all four nations.

Neil O'Brien: The four-month visa extension for newly trained international medical graduates will apply across all four nations.

Health Services: Sefton Central

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for a referral by a GP to a specialist in Sefton Central constituency in the latest period for which data is available.

Neil O'Brien: The data is not available in the format requested.

Electronic Cigarettes: Advertising

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ban all vape advertising.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ban vaping in all public indoor spaces.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ban the use of vaping devices in vehicles that contain children.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to introduce plain packaging for vaping devices.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to require all vape devices to be sold in plain colour.

Neil O'Brien: The Government recently ran a call for evidence on youth vaping that explored a range of themes including building regulatory compliance, the appearance and characteristics of vapes, their marketing and promotion, the role of social media, the environmental impact of vapes and the vape market. The call for evidence closed on 6 June.We are now carefully examining the responses to identify opportunities to reduce youth vaping and we will explore issues such as vape advertising, plain packaging and colours, vaping in public places and the use of vapes in vehicles with children. We will publish our response in early Autumn which will outline our next steps.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve patient access to clinical trials of cancer treatments.

Will Quince: In March 2021 the Government published Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery setting out ambitions to reform clinical research delivery in the United Kingdom. This sets out how we will improve patient access to clinical trials in all areas, including Cancer. This will include enhancing the use of data to support recruitment and improving processes to make study set-up and delivery faster, more efficient, and more innovative, so that clinical research participation is more accessible than ever.In May 2023 Lord James O'Shaughnessy published an independent report, reviewing commercial clinical trials. The government response was published alongside which included plans to expedite trials and improve access to trials for all NHS patients, this is supported by a £121 million commitment. A detailed response is expected in Autumn.

Ultrasonics

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of waiting times for MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound treatment on a patients quality of life.

Helen Whately: The Department has not made an assessment of the waiting times for patients (who are eligible) for Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Help to Buy Scheme

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, If he will make it his policy to extend the interest-free period under the Help to Buy Scheme from five to seven years.

Rachel Maclean: The Help to buy Equity scheme has helped over 383,000 to own their own home since its launch in 2013.To support Help to Buy customers, the loan scheme is already interest free for five years. Customers who are struggling to make interest repayments are encouraged to speak to the Mortgage Administrator.

Supported Housing

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the provisions of the Renters (Reform) Bill on the stepping stone accommodation model.

Rachel Maclean: I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 184765 on 17 May 2023.

Commonhold

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to replace leasehold for property owners with commonhold.

Rachel Maclean: The Government wishes to extend the benefits of freehold ownership to more homeowners.Commonhold provides a freehold alternative to leasehold for owners of flats. We have established a Commonhold Council - a partnership of industry, leaseholders and Government, to help prepare consumers and the market for the widespread take-up of commonhold.We have also asked the Law Commission to make recommendations on how to reinvigorate the legal framework for commonhold and we are reviewing these proposals and will respond in due course.

Local Government: Remote Meetings

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on reviewing the responses to the call for evidence on local authority remote meetings that closed on 17 June 2021; when he plans to publish the Government's response to that consultation; and for what reason the Department has not published its response as of 29 June 2023.

Lee Rowley: I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 95817 2 December 2022.

Buildings: Fire Prevention

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has held discussions with the timber fire door manufacturing sector on his Department's consultation entitled Sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the required testing site capacity to carry out fire door tests for the new EN1634-1 classification within the proposed 12-month transition period as detailed in the consultation entitled Sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings consultation; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed 12-month transition period from the national fire door testing standard BS476 to the proposed new standard EN1634-1 on the (a) costs and (b) productivity of the timber fire door manufacturing sector; and if he will make a statement.

Lee Rowley: The consultation titled Sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings closed on 17 March 2023, with the department receiving over 270 responses. The department, alongside the Building Safety Regulator, is committed to working with the sector to bring about the changes highlighted in the consultation, at the earliest opportunity.

Homelessness: Cambridgeshire

Paul Bristow: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to decrease the number of homeless people in Cambridgeshire.

Felicity Buchan: This Government remains committed to ending rough sleeping and tackling homelessness.In September 2022, we published a bold, new strategy available here: Ending Rough Sleeping For Good. The strategy sets out cross government action to end homelessness and rough sleeping, including over £2 billion of investment over three years.Cambridgeshire County and Cambridge City councils have been allocated over £10 million funding from April 2023- March 2025 through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, Homelessness Prevention Grant and Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme.

Homelessness: Sexuality

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to take steps to improve Homelessness Case Level Information Collection data on sexual orientation.

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department have made of trends in the levels of homelessness amongst (a) lesbian, (b) gay, (c) bisexual and (d) transgender people in the last 24 months.

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities receive adequate training on supporting LGBT young people (a) experiencing and (b) at risk of homelessness.

Felicity Buchan: It has been mandatory for local authorities to collate declared information on sexual orientation for Homelessness Case Level Information Collection since April 2023 and we will publish relevant data in due course. This will further improve the Government's ability to measure and understand the outcomes for LGBT individuals who are at a risk of homelessness or are homeless.Our approach is locally led. We expect councils to commission services based on an assessment of the needs of their local community and to make sure that needs of all groups are considered, such as in programmes like the £500 million Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI).Local authorities are responsible for ensuring their staff are trained to respond to the needs of all households experiencing homelessness. In May 2023, I chaired a round table raising awareness of the challenges faced by young LGBT people, and this was attended by colleagues from local authorities.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Poland: Politics and Government

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the debate on Recent political developments in Poland at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 20 June 2023.

Leo Docherty: We recognise the worries that many countries, including Poland, have over the malign influence or interference of Russia in their domestic agenda. HMG expressed concerns in June 2023 that Poland's proposed State Commission on Russian Influence could undermine trust in the electoral process, which would not be in anyone's interests. President Duda has proposed amendments to the law, which the Polish parliament is considering. This is an important step. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has urgently requested an opinion on the State Commission law. We now await the opinion of the Venice Commission. As a good friend of Poland, the UK government will continue to follow this issue closely.

Iran: Women

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the treatment of women in Iran.

David Rutley: This Government is committed to supporting the fundamental rights of women in Iran by ensuring the Iranian regime is held to account. We do this in part through our sanctions designations: HMG has announced eight rounds of Iran human rights sanctions since October 2022. We also work closely with our international partners in multilateral fora, for example we removed Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2022. We raise human rights directly with the Iranian authorities at all appropriate opportunities, including through our Ambassador in Tehran.

China: Iran

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has received reports on the potential impact of Chinese investment in the Caspian Sea region on the Iranian economy.

David Rutley: We are aware of growing Chinese investment in the Caspian Sea region. The UK recognises that China is an important source of aid, trade and investment for many countries, and has become a dominant player in Iran's economy. The 25 Year Strategic Cooperation Agreement from March 2021 is reported to include Chinese investment in Iran across areas such as oil production and surveillance technology. However, the relationship is unbalanced: only 0.25% of Chinese trade output heads to Iran, whereas China makes up almost 25% of Iran's total trade.

Ljubljana-The Hague Convention: UN Convention against Torture

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that amendments proposed by the Government to the Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and Other International Crimes are compatible with the Convention Against Torture.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of the Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of the Crime of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and other International Crimes (now known as the Ljubljana-The Hague Convention) was held in Slovenia from 15-26 May. All of the 53 States which participated in the Conference are party to the UN Convention Against Torture. The Ljubljana-The Hague Convention was adopted by consensus on 26 May.

Food Systems Summit

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his priorities are for the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment; and whether he has had discussions with his counterparts who will be attending the summit on fostering agricultural resilience across the global south.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Global food security is an FCDO priority as set out in the refresh of the Integrated Review (IR) published in March 2023. The UN Food Systems Summit Stocktaking Moment is an opportunity for the UK to co-ordinate internationally on transforming food systems to improve the health of the planet, people and economies. We will showcase the UK's Agriculture Breakthrough initiative, making climate-resilient, productive and sustainable agriculture the most widely adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030, at the event. Immediately after the Stocktaking Moment, the UK and World Bank will host a Policy Dialogue event on agriculture policy reform. In Rome, on 27 and 28 June, I [Minister Mitchell] spoke to the Heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) about supporting the most vulnerable countries access climate finance to build the resilience of their food systems.

China: Cuba

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, ﻿if he will make an assessment of the impact on UK strategic interests in the Caribbean of the presence of Chinese military personnel in Cuba.

David Rutley: The Foreign Secretary's Mansion House speech earlier this year set out the UK's global approach to China. The Foreign Secretary underlined that the UK would be firm in pushing back wherever we judged Chinese actions were against British interests while engaging directly with China, bilaterally and multilaterally, to preserve and create open, constructive, and stable relations reflecting China's global importance. We continue to monitor the situation in Cuba and any potential impact on UK strategic interests.

Iran: Freedom of Religion

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on freedom of religion and belief in Iran.

David Rutley: The UK is a proud member of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, which is currently chaired by the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Fiona Bruce MP. In July 2022, we hosted the International Ministerial Conference on FoRB in London, during which a number of priority issues were discussed including the situation of religious minorities in Iran. Iran has a record of discrimination, harassment and targeting of minority religious and ethnic communities. We raise these issues at all appropriate opportunities with Iran and we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its dire human rights record.

Nnamdi Kanu

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of whether the Nigerian government has upheld the principles set out in the Charter of the Commonwealth of Nations in its treatment of Nnamdi Kanu.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made recent representations to his Nigerian counterpart on the imprisonment of Nnamdi Kanu.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking legal action to seek the release of Nnamdi Kanu.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has held recent discussions with representatives of Nnamdi Kanu.

David Rutley: Ministers and officials have raised Nnamdi Kanu's case with the Nigerian authorities on multiple occasions, most recently with the Foreign Secretary who raised his case with the then Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama on 14 March 2023, and our High Commissioner with then Minister Onyeama on 22 May 2023. FCDO officials continue to be in regular contact with representatives of Mr Kanu in the United Kingdom and in Nigeria. The Foreign Secretary continues to take the steps he considers most effective to support Nnamdi Kanu's welfare and keeps these steps under review.

Haiti: Diplomatic Service

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many citizens of British Overseas Territories have requested consular assistance in Haiti in the last 12 months.

David Rutley: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has provided consular assistance in 0 new cases to British Overseas Territories Citizens in Haiti in the last 12 months.

Sierra Leone: Security

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the security situation in Sierra Leone.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made representations to the authorities in Sierra Leone on verification of the results of the presidential election in that country.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) fairness and (b) ease of access to (i) polling and (ii) political information in Sierra Leone; and what reports he has received on those issues from UK election observers.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Violence has no place in a democracy and the UK condemns the use of violence by any party to elections. The outcome of the June 2023 elections in Sierra Leone was for the Sierra Leonean people to decide. The UK commends the dedication Sierra Leoneans displayed in exercising their right to vote. Our High Commission and the Foreign Secretary have consistently called for transparency and clarity from the Government of Sierra Leone, election management bodies and opposition parties. The UK has also funded a voter education programme to increase communities' engagement with, and understanding of, the electoral process. The High Commission deployed observers across the country during polling and tallying of results and, along with other partners, we note logistical problems hampered voting on election day in certain areas. We share the concerns of observation missions about the lack of transparency in the tabulation process. We remain committed to supporting democracy and the aspirations of the Sierra Leonean people. We are urging everyone to exercise restraint, respect the rule of law, and engage in peaceful dialogue to resolve disputes.

Department for Business and Trade

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of industrial energy prices in (a) Germany and (b) France on the UK steel industry.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Ofgem has previously carried out research on what drives comparatively high GB electricity prices for energy intensive industries (EIIs) and has compared these with selected European countries. Ofgem published a report in 2021 which can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/research-gb-electricity-prices-energy-intensive-industries(opens in a new tab).The Government recognises that EIIs, including steel producers, are feeling the impact of high energy prices. The 2022 British Energy Security Strategy announced that the EII Compensation Scheme would be extended for a further 3 years.In February, we announced the British Industry Supercharger: a decisive set of measures aimed at reducing electricity costs for EIIs to bring them in line with those charged across the world’s major economies.We have already provided extensive energy costs relief to the steel sector since 2013, including through the Energy Bills Relief Scheme. Steel producers will continue to receive support until 31 March 2024 through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.

Import Controls: Agricultural Products and Food

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish the (a) average amount of time it took for consignments of (i) food and (ii) agricultural products to clear customs in the latest period for which information is available and (b) Government's estimate of the average amount of time it will take for those consignments to clear customs under the Border Target Operating Model.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: This information is not held by the Department for Business and Trade.A number of factors impact clearance times at the border. They will vary depending on the type of food or agricultural product being imported, the port of entry and the mode of transport. Under the risk-based approach to controls set out in the Border Target Operating Model many food and agricultural imports will not require checks at ports ensuring they can leave the port without delay.

Cabinet Office

Government Departments: Buildings and Land

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to place conditions on the disposal of land and buildings by (a) NHS Property Services and (b) other Departments to require that the social value of its subsequent use is considered.

Alex Burghart: The disposal of land and buildings by all government bodies and agencies, including NHS Property Services, is governed by legislation and guidance from the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. In the guidance it is emphasised that property assets should be deployed in the public interest. The decision-making processes they describe, and the planning and policy framework within which decisions are taken, constitute the conditions under which social value is brought into consideration.

Official Residences: Meters

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether water meters have been installed at (a) 10 and (b) 11 Downing Street.

Alex Burghart: The Downing Street complex, consisting of 10, 11 & 12 Downing Street, had water meters installed earlier this year as part of the Cabinet Office’s work on ISO 14001 certification. The individual buildings are not separately metered. I also refer the Hon. Member to the answer of 19 October 2021, PQ 58823, on steps previously taken to improve the environmental performance of these Grade 1 listed buildings.

Coronavirus: Protective Clothing

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Figure 6: High-priority lane for the procurement of personal protective equipment, Data on sources on page 28 of the National Audit Office report entitled Investigation into government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic, HC 959, published 26 November 2020, what the categories were of the three leads from other identified sources that did not fall into the categories identified in Figure 6.

Alex Burghart: There are active legal proceedings at the moment in relation to this matter and, as such, it would not be appropriate to comment while these are ongoing.

Cabinet Office: Official Hospitality

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2023 to Question 190517 on Cabinet Office: Official Hospitality, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing the hospitality expenditure of business units in his Department.

Alex Burghart: We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the Cabinet Office have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission an independent assessment on the level of Universal Credit.

Guy Opperman: In April 2023, State pensions and benefits were up rated by 10.1%, in line with the increase in the Consumer Prices Index in the year to September 2022, following the annual review by the Secretary of State, as is the custom and practice of successive Governments.

Local Housing Allowance

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will increase Local Housing Allowance to reflect the housing market.

Mims Davies: The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum housing support for tenants in the private rented sector.In 2020 we spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of market rents. This significant investment has been maintained ensuring that everyone who benefited continues to do so. The level of LHA rates is reviewed annually by the Secretary of State usually in the Autumn.For those who require additional support with housing costs, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) may be available. Since April 2017, DHPs have been fully devolved to Scotland who are responsible for the allocation and payment to Scottish local authorities.We recognise that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions have been necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively.Over 2022-23 and 2023- 24 the Government is providing support in excess of £94 billion to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.

Social Security Benefits: Uprating

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure regular and adequate uprating of benefits and (b) mitigate the risk of families falling into poverty.

Mims Davies: The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children, and around £152 billion on pensioners. Of this, around £79 billion will be spent on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. With respect to up-rating, the Social Security Administration Act 1992 places an obligation on the Secretary of State to review increases in prices and earnings each tax year, and to increase certain State pensions, additional-needs disability benefits and carers benefits at least in line with the relevant index. In the case of the new and basic State Pensions, the Government is committed to increasing these in line with the triple lock for the remainder of this Parliament. This is the highest of the increase in prices, the increase in earnings, or 2.5%. Once he has completed his review of the increase in prices, he must also decide whether to up-rate other benefit rates, and if so by how much. In the up-rating for the tax year 2023/24, all relevant State pension and benefit rates were increased by 10.1%, in line with the increase in the Consumer Prices Index in the year to September 2022. With 1.05 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting individuals, including parents, to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 working age adults living in workless families were 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in families where all adults work. To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. At the Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an ambitious package of measures designed to support people wherever they live in the UK to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives. The Government recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours which is why, from 28 June, the changes to the Universal Credit (UC) childcare element announced in Spring Budget 2023 will provide generous additional financial support to parents moving into paid work and/or increasing their working hours. This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills.

Universal Credit: Private Rented Housing

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of his Department's recent policy change in paying Universal Credit's Housing Element directly to claimants rather than to landlords and housing providers on the timeliness of rent payments.

Mims Davies: No assessment has been made. Universal Credit is designed to mirror the world of work in order to ease the transition back into employment. The intention is that the same considerations and choices faced by people not in receipt of benefits should also face those claiming benefits. Expecting claimants to manage their own finances helps to achieve this. The Department understands that some claimants will require support to help them handle monthly payments and has put in place procedures to address this.

Universal Credit: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claimed Universal Credit in Northern Ireland in January (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

Guy Opperman: The Administration of Universal Credit in Northern Ireland is devolved to the Department for Communities.

Universal Credit: Deductions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims were subject to deductions in the most recent month for which data is available, broken down by parliamentary constituency; how much on average was deducted in each constituency; what the total sum was of deductions in each constituency; and what proportion of each of those sums was deducted to repay advance payments; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact the DWP Debt Management Team if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment, or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances. Since April 2021, we have reduced the normal maximum rate of deductions in Universal Credit from 40% to 25% of a claimant’s Standard Allowance. These positive measures were put in place to support claimants to manage financial difficulties. Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit, and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period. This is not a debt. The requested analysis of Universal Credit claims with a deduction in February 2023 by parliamentary constituency in Great Britain (GB) is provided in the separate spreadsheet. Data for February 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.Attachment (xlsx, 62.7KB)

Local Housing Allowance: Private Rented Housing

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the local housing allowance in areas with high private rental costs.

Mims Davies: The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum housing support for tenants in the private rented sector. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.In 2020 we spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile. These rates were aligned to the 30th percentile of market rents in Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA) across the country, therefore in those areas with higher rent costs this is reflected in higher LHA rates for that BRMA. This significant investment at that time has been maintained ensuring that everyone who benefited continues to do so. For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.6 billion in DHP funding to local authorities. We recognise that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions have been necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. Overall, the Government is providing total support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claims were subject to sanctions in the last three months for which data is available by constituency; and how much was the (a) total and (b) average sum of benefit income lost by claimants due to sanctions in each constituency in that period.

Guy Opperman: Sanctions are only ever applied when a claimant fails to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason. Statistics are published regularly showing the number of Universal Credit full service claimants with a payment that has been reduced due to a sanction. These can be found in the UC sanction rates dataset on Stat-Xplore and are available by Westminster parliamentary constituency, monthly from April 2019 to February 2023. The additional information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support DWP is providing to social security benefit claimants using the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme who are coming to the end of a mortgage fixed rate term.

Mims Davies: The purpose of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is to enable people to stay in their homes without fear of repossession and, as such, it makes a contribution towards the interest on their mortgages. The rate of SMI we pay is based on the Bank of England published average rate and recently increased from 2.09% to 2.65% on May 2023. Any further changes to the interest rate will occur when the Bank of England average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the rate in payment. As we use an average figure, some people will receive more than the amount of interest charged on their mortgage and other less. We have broad agreement with the lending industry that the amount we pay in SMI will be sufficient to avert any threat of repossession, even where that is less than the borrowers contracted liability. To support benefit claimants with rising interest rates, on 3 April 2023, we extended the support SMI provides by offering UC claimants loans after three months, instead of nine. We have also extended SMI to in- work UC claimants so they can now receive support while working. The SMI reforms will extend support to an additional approximate 200,000 low income homeowners, providing an additional approximate £50m in support.

Social Security Benefits: Poverty

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of families subject to the two-child benefit cap that are in absolute poverty.

Guy Opperman: No such estimation has been made of the number of families subject to the two-child benefit cap that are living in absolute poverty. Statistics related to the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children were published in July 2022 and are available at: Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit claimants: statistics related to the policy to provide support for a maximum of 2 children, April 2022 (opens in a new tab). Statistics on poverty levels by family size in 20/21 are available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/(opens in anew tab) on the HBAI dataset. The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children. From April, we uprated benefit rates by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap levels have also increased by the same amount. With 1.05 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting individuals, including parents, to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work. To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. At the Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an ambitious package of measures designed to support people wherever they live in the UK to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives. The Government recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours which is why, from 28 June, the changes to the Universal Credit (UC) childcare element announced in Spring Budget 2023 will provide generous additional financial support to parents moving into paid work and/or increasing their working hours. This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills. For people who require additional support, the Household Support Fund has been extended until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need in response to the significantly rising cost of living. The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential Barnett funding, as with all England-only investment, to spend at their discretion.

Department for Work and Pensions: Artificial Intelligence

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to use his Department's machine learning skills recommendation prototype on the gov.uk Find a Job website.

Guy Opperman: The DWP does not have any plan to use the skills recommendation prototype with Find a Job.   We recognise that some jobseekers do need additional information to support them identifying the skills they need in the labour market. We provide this online through Job Help (https://jobhelp.campaign.gov.uk), which includes support on identifying transferrable skills.

Personal Independence Payment

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the (a) effectiveness of systems and (b) potential pressures on his Department's phonelines during summer 2023 of requirements to notify his Department of trips abroad by claimants of the Personal Independence Payment.

Tom Pursglove: Claimants are expected to contact the DWP if their circumstances change, including notification of periods abroad. Periods abroad may affect a claimant’s entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), so we need to know the date a claimant is leaving the country, how long they are planning to be out of the country, which country they are going to, and the purpose of the visit. We have record levels of demand for PIP, and in turn this has increased pressure on the PIP Helpline. To meet this additional demand, significant recruitment activity has been taking place which is having a positive impact on calls answered and wait times.

Department for Transport

British Transport Police: Vetting

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held recent discussions with the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police on the adequacy of its officer vetting processes.

Huw Merriman: The Transport Secretary and I have both recently met with the BTP Chief Constable and vetting was one of a range of issues discussed. Both my officials and the Chief Constable are aware of the importance of vetting BTP officers thoroughly and most recently met this week (27 June) to discuss this matter. BTP also recently gave comprehensive feedback to the Home Office’s Police Officer Dismissals Review. BTP’s feedback was shared with the Transport Secretary who was supportive.

British Transport Police: Complaints

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many complaints against British Transport Police officers have been recorded in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Huw Merriman: For the reporting period 01 April 2022 - 31 March 2023, there were 938 complaints against BTP recorded.

British Transport Police: Staff

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many British Transport Police officers were in service in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) 2022; and how many are in service as of 27 June 2023.

Huw Merriman: DateNumber of officersApril 20193,110April 20203,179April 20213,125April 20223,175As of 27 June 20233,184

Railways: Tickets

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many ticket office booths were in operation in railway stations in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) 2022; and how many are in operation as of 27 June 2023.

Huw Merriman: In 2019, 988 Department contracted train operating company ticket offices were in operation in railway stations. In 2021, the number of ticket offices in operation reduced by 3. Therefore, today we have 985 ticket offices in operation.

Railways: Suicide

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of suicides on the rail network.

Huw Merriman: The Department, working in partnership with the train operating companies (TOCs), Network Rail and the British Transport Police (BTP), is committed to reducing the number of deaths by suicide on the railway. Each TOC is required to deliver a suicide prevention plan which includes the commitment to train frontline passenger staff on suicide prevention and deploying mitigation measures to prevent access to lethal means. TOCs are also required to obtain and maintain accreditation to the Safeguarding on Rail Scheme which sets out their actions in protecting vulnerable people travelling on their network. The BTP carries out a site visit following every suspected suicide on the railway to militate against future loss of life at the same location, and has a dedicated Harm Reduction Team (Hart) who work one to one with vulnerable individuals, joining up local authorities, the NHS and others to ensure the person is cared for and prevented from taking their life on the rail network. The Department is supportive of the Samaritans Small Talk Saves Lives campaign which is delivered in partnership with Network Rail, BTP and the wider rail industry, with both the Secretary of State and Rail Minister recently attending a campaign event.

Railways: Tickets

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many rail staff work in ticket booths as of 27 June 2023.

Huw Merriman: This information is not held centrally by the Department for Transport. The train operating companies, as the employers of staff working in ticket offices, hold this information.

Railways: Tickets

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any of the train operating companies under contract with his Department have indicated that they plan to table proposals for ticket office closures via the Schedule 17 major change process in the next (a) month, (b) two months and (c) six months.

Huw Merriman: If Train Operating Companies propose to change their ticket office opening hours they must follow the industry process as set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA).

Railways: Compensation

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to direct Train Operating Companies to accept Delay Repay claims from season ticket holders on days following industrial action, measured on the length of the delay experienced based on the regular timetable, as opposed to the reduced service timetables implemented on those days by Train Operating Companies.

Huw Merriman: Season ticket holders with a flexi, monthly or annual season ticket who are unable to travel on a day affected by industrial action are able to claim 100 per cent Delay Repay compensation for the relevant strike day or days. There are no plans to extend the current policy for season ticket holders for Delay Repay compensation to days following industrial action.

Railways: Repairs and Maintenance

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in his Department are working on the update to the Rail Networks Enhancement Pipeline.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of staff time spent working on the Rail Networks Enhancement Pipeline since its last update.

Huw Merriman: The Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline update document involves input from staff who work on a number of workstreams at any given time. We do not collect information on the aggregated time spent or resulting cost on the update document itself.

Bus Services: North Yorkshire

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the potential merits of the North Yorkshire Mayor having responsibility for North Yorkshire buses.

Mr Richard Holden: My Department worked closely with DLUHC and York and North Yorkshire councils to agree the devolution deal for the area which was announced last summer. The deal committed to creating a new York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority which will take on existing Local Transport Authority responsibilities for buses for the area and unlock bus franchising powers for the elected Mayor, should they choose to use them. The devolution deal is subject to ratification by all partners and the statutory requirements referred to within the deal document, including local consent and Parliamentary approval of the implementing secondary legislation. My officials continue to work with DLUHC and the councils to take this forward.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a breakdown of the money spent on each of the 13 suppliers Regional Delivery Partnership frameworks by National Highways in each of the last five years.

Mr Richard Holden: The information is provided below:  SupplierFY 18/19FY 19/20FY 20/21FY 21/22FY 22/23Total (£)AMEY SIR ROBERT MCALPINE JV 4,474,58122,208,36825,834,37917,640,94870,158,276BALFOUR BEATTY CIVIL ENGINEERING LTD42,10310,132,50781,757,12989,120,68652,581,392233,633,818BAM NUTTALL LIMITED 6,591,80719,906,19925,736,4996,144,75658,379,261COSTAIN LIMITED87,71714,480,50588,726,041193,453,626306,378,853603,126,742GALLIFORD TRY INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED1,646,91226,998,00717,094,46629,483,81658,594,207133,817,407GRIFFITHS FARRANS JV 623,2181,249,8832,567,4889,413,85013,854,439JOHN GRAHAM CONSTRUCTION LTD 2,827,8906,555,47022,000,67052,513,90483,897,934KELTBRAY HIGHWAYS LIMITED9,901,4859,901,485KIER HIGHWAYS LIMITED1,611,7268,653,40219,369,81037,968,85872,310,480139,914,275Octavius Infrastructure Ltd   25,485,97321,200,23346,686,206SKANSKA CONSTRUCTION UK LTD143,89111,315,52231,061,05745,173,776100,205,855187,900,102VINCI CONSTRUCTION UK LTD/ VINCI JV79,6212,473,1484,000,60715,510,2769,082,03131,145,683VOLKERFITZPATRICK LIMITED 2,960,03719,080,27729,235,16929,374,32280,649,805Grand Total (£)3,611,97091,530,622311,009,308541,571,216745,342,3161,693,065,431

A66: Repairs and Maintenance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress his Department has made on implementing the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme.

Huw Merriman: National Highways is responsible for delivering the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme. They submitted an Application for a Development Consent Order for this scheme in June 2022. The six-month examination of this Application recently ended on 29 May. The Examining Authority now has up to three months to provide the Secretary of State with their recommendation as to whether the Development Consent Order should be granted consent. The Secretary of State then has three months to make the final decision.

A66: Repairs and Maintenance

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with National Highways on (a) Early Warning Notifications from the suppliers on the A66 North Trans-Pennine project and (b) changes to the projected costs and delivery timelines for the A66 North Trans-Pennine project.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent (a) correspondence and (b) discussions he has had with National Highways on the delivery schedule and project costs for the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings executive directors in (a) his Department and (b) National Highways have held with stakeholders on the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine upgrade in each of the last three years.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held discussions with National Highways on changes to (a) the delivery of the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine upgrade project and (b) the suppliers contracted to deliver the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine upgrade project.

Mr Richard Holden: National Highways is a Government-owned company that is operationally independent and responsible for delivering the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme, including managing its own commercial agreements with suppliers, engaging and consulting with stakeholders and ensuring the scheme is delivered to plan. An Application for a Development Consent Order was submitted in June 2022, with the six-month examination of this Application recently ending on 29 May 2023. The Examining Authority now has up to three months to provide the Secretary of State with its recommendation as to whether the Development Consent Order should be granted consent. The Secretary of State then has three months to make the final decision. This is an independent process separate to the delivery oversight provided by the Department. DfT ministers regularly meet the Chief Executive of National Highways to discuss, at a strategic level, delivery of the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS 2), of which the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme is a part. DfT officials meet with National Highways officials regularly to assess scheme progress against National Highways’ Delivery Plan. For the A66 scheme, start of works is forecast by March 2024 with open for traffic in Road Period 3 (2025-2030), subject to the outcome of the Development Consent Order process.

Great British Railways

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals for Great British Railways.

Huw Merriman: We are working closely with the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) and the sector and will introduce legislation when parliamentary time allows. Decisions regarding legislation are made collectively across Government and will be confirmed in the King’s Speech in the Autumn.Many reforms and tangible benefits for rail users can be delivered ahead of legislation and are underway, such as workforce reform, simplifying fares and continuing the rollout of Pay-As-You-Go ticketing, building local partnerships and simplifying industry practices.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average cost of installing an electric vehicle domestic charging point (a) as of June 2023 and (b) in each year until 2030.

Jesse Norman: The Government has made no recent assessment of the average cost of installing domestic electric vehicle charging points nor forecasted future costs to 2030. Funding is available through the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant to support the provision of chargepoints in flats or rental accommodation, with up to £350 available towards the cost of purchasing and installing a chargepoint.

Shipping: Fuels

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a mandate for zero emission shipping fuel to reach five per cent of the UK fuel blend by 2030.

Jesse Norman: The Government is exploring a range of policy options to increase the use of alternative fuels in maritime and will report on this work as part of the refreshed Clean Maritime Plan.

Shipping: Fuels

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a shipping fuel levy from 2025 on all (a) domestic and (b) international shipping from 2025, rising to a level consistent with the Government's carbon value by 2035.

Jesse Norman: In March 2022, the Government published a consultation package with the UK ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) Authority, exploring options to expand the scheme to include emissions from domestic maritime. The Government response to the consultation will be published in due course.The UK is pressing for greater ambition during the review of the International Maritime Organization Initial Greenhouse Gas Strategy in July and continues to monitor developments of international and regional carbon pricing instruments covering shipping to consider how they may interact with our domestic policy.The Government keeps all taxes under review and any changes are announced by the Chancellor at fiscal events.

Railways: Tickets

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct train operating companies to produce proposals for public consultation on ticket office closures through the Schedule 17 major change process.

Huw Merriman: If train operating companies propose to change their ticket office opening hours they must follow the industry process as set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.

Railways: Tickets

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) the Rail Delivery Group and (b) each of the train operating companies under contract with his Department on proposals for ticket office closures.

Huw Merriman: The Department holds meetings regularly with the Rail Delivery Group and industry about the need to reform and modernise rail. Together with industry we want to modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to more visible and accessible roles around the station. To propose any changes to the opening hours, or the closure of ticket offices, train operating companies must follow the process set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Cultural Heritage: Industry

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to promote the UK's industrial heritage (a) in the North East and (b) across the UK.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what (a) programmes and (b) bodies her Department provides funding to for the promotion of the UK's industrial heritage.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with Ministers in the Department for Education of the role of industrial cultural heritage in attracting young people into STEM subjects.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to safeguard the UK's industrial heritage.

Sir John Whittingdale: The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.

Dormant Assets Scheme

Angela Richardson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to include (a) financial education and (b) capability in the allocation of the dormant assets identified by the Dormant Assets Act 2022; and if she will make a statement.

Stuart Andrew: I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 26 June 2023, in my capacity as a Department for Culture, Media and Sport Minister, to Question UIN 190569.

Youth Services: Leicester

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) level up and (b) improve the provision of services for young people in (i) Leicester East constituency and (ii) Leicester.

Stuart Andrew: The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people.Recognising this, the Government has committed to a National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This is supported by a three-year investment of over £500 million in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in national youth spending with a firm focus on levelling up.As part of the National Youth Guarantee, the Youth Investment Fund will level up access to services for young people across the country. The Youth Investment Fund will target investment in less advantaged areas of England, where young people have the greatest need. The £300m fund is place-based and locally led, with 45 local authorities and over 600 district wards eligible to apply. Leicester, including Leicester East, has been eligible for this funding and although the fund is now closed for new applications, we anticipate making the next round of funding announcements this summer.Young people in Leicester will also benefit from other elements of the National Youth Guarantee, for example, a year-round National Citizen Service programme; increased access to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award; expanded uniformed youth groups and volunteering opportunities through the #iwill Fund.

Cricket: Discrimination

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussion her Department has had with Sport England on racism and discrimination in cricket.

Stuart Andrew: The Government is clear that there is absolutely no place for racism, discrimination, bullying or harassment in sport or society. The government will review the findings of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report, and we welcome the ECB’s commitment to bring forward a plan to tackle these serious issues, which must be addressed fully.The Government works closely with the sector, particularly its arm’s length bodies Sport England and UK Sport, and national governing bodies of sport, to tackle racism and discrimination. As a funding partner, Sport England will continue to work with the ECB to ensure that progress is made in tackling discrimination and increasing diversity in cricket.

Swimming Pools: Greater Manchester

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of council-run swimming pools in Greater Manchester.

Stuart Andrew: We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.We have also confirmed an additional £60 million support package for swimming pools, which is targeted at addressing cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers and helping make facilities sustainable in the long-term.Data held by Sport England shows that at June 2023 there are 86 operational swimming pools (with 5 temporarily closed) across 48 sites owned by Local Authorities in the Greater Manchester area.

Crown Works Studios

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with (a) internal and (b) external stakeholders on the Crown Works Studio project in Sunderland.

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the (a) economic contribution of the film and television industries to each region and (b) potential economic benefit of increased investment in that industry in the North East.

Sir John Whittingdale: The recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the potential of the creative industries. It details our plans to grow these industries by an extra £50bn and create a million extra jobs by 2030, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity for young people through a Creative Careers Promise. The film and television industries play an important role in the wider creative industries.My department continues to work closely with its Arm’s Length Body, the British Film Institute (BFI), to ensure a wide range of funding and initiatives are available to support the film industry. This is in addition to the UK-wide screen sector tax reliefs, and the UK Global Screen Fund which will invest £28 million in the international growth of independent screen companies across the UK. The BFI produces the Screen Business Report, which assesses the impact of the tax reliefs across all nations and regions of the UK.The £28.4 million Create Growth Programme (CGP) is supporting creative businesses to attract private investment through a combination of capital, business support and investor capacity building. It currently covers six regions in England, including parts of the North East of England.The British Film Institute also launched their skills clusters programme in April, committing £8.1m of National Lottery funding over 2023-26 to support the development of six regional skills clusters across the UK. The funding focuses on establishing localised support for skills development and training, building on existing production infrastructure, with the aim to develop local crew bases and create new opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in the sector. Screen Yorkshire, Liverpool Film Office, Screen Manchester, and North East Screen have partnered together, under the name ‘Screen Alliance North’, to jointly lead the ‘North of England’ cluster - which has been awarded £2.3m for 2023-26.I am aware of the Crown Works studio proposal in Sunderland and I look forward to continuing my engagement with stakeholders to hear more about this project.

Holiday Accommodation: Registration

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to introduce different registration processes for short-term holiday lets of (a) whole properties and (b) individual rooms.

Sir John Whittingdale: The consultation on the registration scheme for short term lets in England closed earlier this month, on 7 June. The Government is now analysing the responses, which will inform the final shape of the scheme - including the process and unit of registration. The consultation response will be published in due course.

Gambling: Children and Young People

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the gambling industry on young people under 18 using fake ID to take part in online gambling.

Stuart Andrew: The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people at risk of harms associated with online gambling.The Gambling Act review considered the efficacy of protections for children and young adults, including on age controls for online gambling. Evidence submitted as part of the review, and Gambling Commission surveys show low rates of illegal underage gambling with online operators. When this does occur, it is generally through misuse of an adult’s account or details rather than a failure of the verification process.While the current rules require online operators to verify a customer’s age before they are allowed to deposit money or gamble, they do not specify how this has to be done. Most operators use background checks to verify age and identity, rather than relying on the provision of identity documentation. There is little evidence to suggest widespread use of fake documentation by underage adults to access online gambling.We recently published a white paper following our Review of the Gambling Act 2005. The paper introduces a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products that can drive harm, particularly among young people.Over recent years, the Government has worked with the Gambling Commission and others on a range of measures to protect young people from harms associated with online gambling. This includes tightening the age verification requirements for both land-based and online operators in 2019, and raising the minimum age to play the National Lottery to 18 and over in 2021.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Energy: Disability

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of additional targeted energy support for (a) people with motor neurone disease, (b) people who are reliant on energy-intensive assistive equipment and (c) other disabled people, in the context of increases in the cost of (i) energy and (ii) living.

Amanda Solloway: As set out in the Autumn Statement, the Government is exploring the best approach to consumer protection from April 2024, as part of wider retail market reforms. Officials are engaging with stakeholders with a view to targeting support for the most vulnerable and alleviating fuel poverty.In response to higher prices, the Government has put in place the Energy Price Guarantee and provided significant additional support to help those who need it most through winter 2022-23 and into 2023-24.

Energy: Debts

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to set an affordable rate of repayment for households that are in debt to their energy companies.

Amanda Solloway: Ofgem rules, including an Ability to Pay Principle, obligate suppliers to provide support for those struggling to pay their bills by setting up appropriate repayment plans based on a customer’s ability to pay, and by directing the customer to further support services. Ofgem has recently consulted on proposals to ensure suppliers intervene as early as possible to offer support where customers have fallen behind with bills. This consultation closed on 1 June, and Ofgem will announce its response in due course.

Energy: Social Tariffs

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to introduce a new social energy tariff before winter 2023.

Amanda Solloway: As set out in the autumn statement, we are exploring the best approach to consumer protection from April 2024, as part of wider retail market reforms.

Alternative Fuels and Carbon Capture and Storage

Dame Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that (a) communities and businesses in the South of England and (b) national industries are able participate in (i) carbon capture storage and (ii) the production of hydrogen and sustainable aviation and marine fuels.

Graham Stuart: Carbon capture and storage (CCUS) and low carbon hydrogen, which can be used to create sustainable aviation and marine fuels, offer economic opportunities across the country. In 2030, CCUS and hydrogen could support up to 50,000 and 12,000 jobs, respectively. The Government announced an unprecedented £20bn investment in the early development of CCUS and is supporting hydrogen projects across the UK through the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, including three in the south of England, and the Hydrogen Production Business Model. Two projects in the south of England have progressed to the next stage of the first electrolytic hydrogen allocation round.

Carbon Capture and Storage: Licensing

Dame Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will review the eligibility criteria for the Track-2 Carbon Capture and Storage process to ensure that those projects expected to secure a carbon storage licence within a timescale consistent with a 2030 start-up are included.

Graham Stuart: The Government has set eligibility criteria for Track-2 of its carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) programme that prioritise transport and storage (T&S) systems that can be operational by 2030 or earlier.The Government believes that the possession of a Carbon Dioxide Appraisal and Storage licence is a key indicator for competitiveness in any Track-2 assessment. The expression of interest application window is now closed and we will provide an update in the summer.We encourage T&S systems not eligible for Track-2 to continue their decarbonisation plans where feasible and we are open to engagement with them.

Energy: Infrastructure

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to reform (a) planning and (b) land consents arrangements to help reduce the cost of delivering new energy network infrastructure.

Andrew Bowie: Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) planning reforms are underway, led by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities which published an Action Plan in February and is due to consult on details soon. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is considering improvements to the land rights and consents processes for electricity network infrastructure and plans to publish details this year. Strategic network planning including the Holistic Network Design (HND) and Centralised Strategic Network Planning are bringing forward more co-ordinated networks infrastructure proposals reducing costs overall; for the HND these cost savings are estimated at £5.5bn from 2030.

Hydrogen

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of blending hydrogen into the gas transmission network.

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the impact of introducing hydrogen into the gas transmission network on the growth of the (a) hydrogen production and (b) renewable energy industries.

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to announce his policy on blending hydrogen into the gas transmission network.

Graham Stuart: The Government aims to make a policy decision on whether to blend hydrogen into the existing gas distribution networks in 2023, subject to the outcomes from ongoing economic and safety assessments and strategic considerations, including potential impacts on hydrogen production and the wider energy system. The initial 2023 policy decision will consider distribution-level blending only. The Government will assess the case for blending at transmission-level, which may be subject to a separate policy decision at a later date. There are additional considerations associated with transmission level blending that will be factored in as part of the assessment.

Geothermal Power

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero,what steps he is taking to support geothermal energy projects.

Graham Stuart: Geothermal technologies that generate electricity are eligible for the Contracts for Difference scheme, which is the Government’s main mechanism for supporting renewables. Furthermore, £22 million has been allocated to provide heating to nearly 4,000 local homes and facilities in Cornwall.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support the offshore wind sector.

Graham Stuart: We are supporting our world leading offshore wind sector through our Contract for Difference scheme and have increased the frequency of auctions. Allocation Round 5 is currently underway and will bring forward new projects.

Hydrogen: Production

Lia Nici: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support the production of green hydrogen.

Andrew Bowie: The Government intends to run annual allocation rounds to support electrolytic hydrogen production, with the aim of having up to one gigawatt of electrolytic hydrogen in construction or operation by 2025.

Treasury

Low Emission Zones: Fees and Charges

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to make it his policy that charges levied by the Ultra Low Emission Zone are considered as allowable expenses for tax purposes.

Victoria Atkins: Employees are entitled to tax relief for the full cost they are obliged to incur travelling in the performance of their duties or travelling to or from a place of duty – as long as the journey is not ordinary commuting or private travel. This includes the actual cost of travel together with any subsistence expenditure and other associated costs, including the Ultra-Low Emission Zone charge, that are incurred in making the journey.

Taxpayers

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) basic, (b) higher and (c) additional rate taxpayers there were in each Parliamentary constituency in the latestfinancialyear for which data is available.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC’s Personal income by tax year statistics contains constituency-level breakdown of taxpayer numbers for 2020-2021, the latest available outturn, in Table 3.15. below:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1140547/Collated_Tables_3_12_to_3_15a_2021.odsFurther breakdowns of this information are not readily available and cannot be provided in the time available.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1165832/govuk_tables_.xlsxFor projection years, HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.

Revenue and Customs: Standards

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to conclusion 3 of the Forty-ninth report of the Committee of Public Accounts entitled Managing tax compliance following the pandemic, published on 3 May 2023, HC 739, if he will make it his policy to set a target for the compliance yield required to make up for any shortfall during the pandemic.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is considering the Committee’s recommendations and will respond in a Treasury Minute in due course.

Economic Policy: Production

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to strengthen the supply side of the economy.

Gareth Davies: Despite challenging global economic conditions, the UK economy has outperformed growth expectations, leading to the OECD and the IMF revising up their growth forecasts. At Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced a package to strengthen the supply side of the economy and boost economic growth by removing the barriers to work and increase labour supply, reforming the UK’s tax system to incentivise business investment and improve productivity, and continuing to work in collaboration with the UK’s high growth industries to regulate more effectively. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects that this package will result in the largest policy-induced permanent increase in UK GDP in their medium-term forecasts.

Pollution Control: Taxation

Dan Carden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing polluter pays’ taxes and levies to fund climate projects.

Gareth Davies: The UK Government has a range of climate taxes and levies that apply the polluter pays principle. Among others, these include the two main carbon pricing policies - the Carbon Price Support and the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. Together, these policies have contributed to a significant shift in the economics of, and investment incentives for, renewable energy sources compared to coal for domestic power generation.

Financial Services: Interest Rates

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of interest rates charged by financial companies.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that his policies on tackling inflation help support mortgage holders.

Andrew Griffith: High inflation is the greatest economic challenge that we must address, which is why the Government has made it a priority to halve inflation this year, on the path back to the 2% target. Monetary policy, including all decisions on Bank Rate, is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England, and they have the Government’s full support as they take action to return inflation back to target. MPC decisions over Bank Rate guide commercial banks’ decisions over the retail interest rates they charge on loans and pay on deposits. However, banks also make commercial judgements that influence the degree of pass‐through from changes in Bank Rate into retail interest rates, with conditions in financial markets and in the banking sector also influencing interest rates paid on deposits or charged for lending. Nevertheless, we recognise this will be a concerning time for mortgage borrowers, particularly those who are due to come to the end of their existing deal in the immediate future. Following the commitments agreed to support borrowers in December, the Chancellor met with mortgage lenders, UK Finance and the Financial Conduct Authority on 23 June. At this meeting, lenders agreed to a new Mortgage Charter to support borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments, which was published on 26 June. This sets out the standards lenders will adopt when helping their customers, including new flexibilities to help customers manage their mortgage payments over a short period. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mortgage-charter/mortgage-charter This is in addition to the measures the Government has already taken aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol.

Revenue and Customs: Staff

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of HMRC workforce resources.

Victoria Atkins: We review HMRC's workforce requirements as part of regular performance and financial monitoring.

Revenue and Customs: Standards

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to reduce (a) the number of lost records, (b) other administrative errors and (c) IT problems.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC have IT programmes underway which will increase security, resiliency as well as providing stability and increase performance which will address any IT issues.

Mortgages

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to support people with increases in mortgage costs, in the context of increases in the cost of living.

Andrew Griffith: The pricing and availability of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. However, we recognise this will be a concerning time for all households with a mortgage. The Prime Minister has been clear, the best and most important way that we can keep costs and interest rates down for people is to halve inflation, and then return it to the 2% target. Following the commitments agreed to support borrowers in December, the Chancellor met with mortgage lenders, UK Finance and the Financial Conduct Authority on 23 June. At this meeting, lenders agreed to a new Mortgage Charter to support borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments, which was published on 26 June. This sets out the standards lenders will adopt when helping their customers, including new flexibilities to help customers manage their mortgage payments over a short period. This is in addition to the measures the Government has already taken aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol.

Interest Rates

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to (a) allow Parliament to set interest rates and (b) reverse recent increases in interest rates.

Andrew Griffith: Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England and this includes decisions on Bank Rate. The Government does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy. The Government has made it a priority to halve inflation this year. Any plans to undermine the independence and role of the Bank of England, or embark on unfunded borrowing sprees to the tune of £28bn would only serve to harm the economy and increase inflation.

Companies: Inflation

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of levels of (a) corporate profit, (b) share dividends and (c) share buybacks on inflation.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a mechanism to monitor the potential impact of (a) corporate profit levels and (b) dividend and buyback payments on inflation

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the finding in the Bank for International Settlements' Annual Economic Report, published in June 2023, that firms are now more reluctant to accept profit squeezes and will pass on cost pressures to prices more readily, if he will take steps to reduce the potential impact of corporate profit on levels of inflation.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the finding in the Bank for International Settlements' Annual Economic Report, published in June 2023, that some catch-up in wages would be compatible with inflation returning to target if firms accept a reduction in profits, if he will take steps to reduce the potential impact of corporate profit on levels of inflation.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the finding in the International Monetary Fund working paper entitled Euro Area Inflation after the Pandemic and Energy Shock: Import Prices, Profits and Wages, published in June 2023, that (a) domestic profits account for around 45 per cent and (b) labour costs account for around 25 per cent of inflation in the Euro area, if he will take steps to reduce the potential impact of corporate profit on levels of inflation.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 6 of the Working Paper by the International Monetary Fund entitled Euro Area Inflation after the Pandemic and Energy Shock: Import Prices, Profits and Wages, published June 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the analysis by the Fund of the potential effect of the level of corporate profits on real wages; and if he will take steps to limit the potential inflationary impact of corporate profits on wage growth.

Andrew Griffith: UK inflation has been affected by global factors, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affecting energy and food prices. The UK is not alone in facing these challenges, advanced economies across the world are feeling the impact of inflation. That is why halving inflation is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities. Evidence that corporate profits play a role is inconclusive. The independent Competition and Markets Authority have authority to intervene if they find evidence of anti-competitive conduct or competition law is breached.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Fishing Catches

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to introduce remote electronic monitoring of bycatch as part of licensing conditions for supertrawlers to access UK waters.

Mark Spencer: We will shortly be consulting on proposals to increase the use of remote electronic monitoring on English vessels and in English waters, including on large pelagic trawlers. The Scottish government consulted on similar measures in spring 2022.

Poultry: Antibiotics

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with food (a) retailers and (b) producers onthe sale of chickens treated with fluoroquinolone antibiotics.

Mark Spencer: The Secretary of State has not had any discussions with retailers or producers on the sale of chickens treated with fluoroquinolone antibiotics. There was an 89% reduction in fluroquinolone use in broiler chickens between 2014 and 2021, with fluoroquinolones representing just 0.4% of total antibiotic use in broilers in 2021.

Biodiversity

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the dates for the implementation of biodiversity net gain in (a) November 2023 and (b) April 2024.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has made of the adequacy of the capacity of local planning authorities to implement biodiversity net gain for (a) large sites in November 2023 and (b) smaller sites in April 2024.

Trudy Harrison: Under the Environment Act 2021, planning permissions granted in England, with a few exemptions, will have to deliver at least 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG), with phased implementation starting from November 2023. BNG will be mandatory for most new major development under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 from November this year, for minor development from April 2024 and for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects from 2025. The exact dates will be announced as soon as possible and are subject to parliamentary timings. The initial assessment of the additional burden mandatory BNG would place on local planning authorities was made in the BNG Impact Assessment in 2019: Net gain impact assessment. Subsequently Defra worked with the Association of Local Government Ecologists and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport to undertake a survey of local planning authorities in 2021. This survey was aimed at securing a better understanding of the existing capacity, skills and preparedness of local authorities with respect to BNG and wider Environment Act 2021 measures. The survey outcomes have been published in a report, available at: Defra Science Search. The Government announced funding to support local authorities in England with preparation for mandatory BNG of £4.18 million and up to a further £16.71 million during the two-year transition period. Defra is also funding a project with the Planning Advisory Service to support local authorities in preparing for BNG.

Biodiversity

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will provide (a) councils and (b) landowners with details of the conservation covenant responsible body application process before the implementation of biodiversity net gain.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made contingency plans in case there are no appropriate and approved conservation covenant responsible bodies in time for the implementation of biodiversity net gain in November.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of delays in the availability of conservation covenants on the ability of local authorities to prepare the implementation of biodiversity net gain in November 2023.

Trudy Harrison: Guidance for any organisations considering applying to become a conservation covenant responsible body will be published and the application process launched as soon as possible, in readiness for the implementation of biodiversity net gain (BNG). Land for BNG can already be secured via standard planning obligations such as s106.

Agriculture: Pay

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board on agricultural workers' wages.

Mark Spencer: The Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales ended in 2013. The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wages rates for all eligible workers, including those in agriculture, are set by the Government, based on the advice of an independent advisory group, the Low Pay Commission. On 1 April 2023, the Government increased the National Living Wage for workers aged 23 years and over by 9.7% to £10.42. The National Minimum Wage was also increased to £10.42 for workers aged 23 and over, with lower rates for younger workers. A large portion of the agricultural workforce is seasonal. When the continuation of the Seasonal Worker visa route was announced on 24 December 2021, Defra and the Home Office were clear this would require those using the route to pay a minimum salary to discourage poor working conditions. Seasonal agricultural workers are among the most vulnerable workers in the UK and improving pay and conditions for these workers, along with increasing efforts to protect workers and prevent them from being exploited, are laudable goals. From 12 April 2023 seasonal workers on the visa route must be paid a minimum rate of £10.42 (equivalent to the national living wage) for each hour worked. There is also a requirement to provide a minimum of 32 hours of work every week. The usual rules prohibiting zero hours contracts, alongside the operators of the Seasonal Worker visa route ensuring workers are supported in the event work is not available, continue to apply. Recruitment and retention of agricultural workers, of which wages are one element, were considered in the independent review of labour shortages in the food supply chain which the Government commissioned in 2022. The review focused on farming, processing, and food and drink manufacturing as sectors that are critical for food production and food security. The final report was published on 30 June 2023: Independent review into labour shortages in the food supply chain - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and the Government response will follow in autumn 2023.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to correspondence of (a) 2 March, (b) 3 April, (c) 3 May and (d) 7 June 2023 from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay relating to a constituent's case, reference JB40823 and MC2023/04425.

Rebecca Pow: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 29 June 2023.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Emergency Calls: Standards

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she is taking steps to (a) increase the operational resilience of the 999 system and (b) ensure that control room systems have effective back-up systems.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will publish her Department's contract with BT for the operation of the 999 emergency system; and what recent assessment she has made of whether BT is meeting its contractual obligations.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the cost to the public purse is of the BT contract to operate the 999 emergency phone system.

Sir John Whittingdale: We recognise the importance of 999 as an essential part of our public safety. The Government working in partnership with BT and the Emergency Authorities will be taking steps to strengthen the resilience of the Public Emergency Call Service, to ensure it meets the needs of the UK public.The Government does not have a contract with BT to provide the Public Emergency Call Service, and does not pay BT to act as the 999 Call Handling Agent (CHA).All Communication Providers (CPs) are required by the Communications Act (2003) to ensure the continuity of access to the Public Emergency Call Service, via the telephone numbers 999 and 112. These obligations are set out in the General Conditions of Entitlement and are regulated by Ofcom. All CPs pay BT to provide the service on their behalf, and this arrangement does not involve the Government.Through their role as the independent regulator, Ofcom set BT an advisory target to answer 95% of calls within 5 seconds. While this is only an advisory target, Ofcom retains discretion to investigate, and take action against any CP for any possible breach of its General Conditions, which could include considering delays, errors, service quality and other relevant factors.On 28 June 2023, Ofcom announced an investigation into the incident on 25 June 2023, and will seek to establish the facts surrounding the incident, and examine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that BT has failed to comply with its regulatory obligations.In addition, the Government will be completing a full Post-Incident Review to examine the resilience of the system and to identify any lessons that may be learnt from the incident.

Spacecraft and Submarines: Regulation

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on enhancing regulation of (a) commercial and (b) experimental technologies for (i) marine and (ii) outer space experiential excursions.

George Freeman: MARINE EXCURSIONS The Government can only regulate vessels in UK waters, and UK-flagged vessels wherever they are in the world. There are no regulations covering deep-sea submersibles used in international waters, and there is only one submersible listed on the UK flag. No non-UK-flagged manned civilian submersibles operate in the UK. The Government does not have plans to review the UK regulatory regime here. OUTER SPACE EXCURSIONS The Space Industry Act 2018 (the 2018 Act) and Space Industry Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations) provides the legislative framework for the licensing of space activities, sub-orbital activities, and associated activities carried out in the UK, including sub-orbital missions involving human occupants. However, the Government does not have plans at present to permit, and therefore has not commenced provisions in the 2018 Act for, the licensing of orbital spaceflight involving human occupants; or the licensing of spaceflight activities involving hypersonic (or any other experimental) transport from one point to another (A to B).

Artificial Intelligence

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what her Department's policy is on the regulation of (a) artificial intelligence and (b) machine learning.

Paul Scully: We published our AI Regulation White Paper on 29 March, which sets out five cross-cutting principles regulators should apply when considering the use of AI in their own sectors. The principles are: (i) safety, security and robustness, (ii) appropriate transparency and explainability, (iii) fairness, (iv) accountability and governance, (v) contestability and redress.Our principles-based approach to AI regulation is focused on outcomes and is designed to manage risk and enhance trust while also allowing innovation to flourish. The proposals include the introduction of a statutory duty on regulators in time.The white paper also proposes a range of new central functions, including a horizon scanning function intended to anticipate and assess emerging risks. This will complement the existing work undertaken by regulators and other government departments to identify and address risks arising from AI. The consultation closed on 21 June, and the Government will update on the proposals in its response.

Members: Correspondence

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to respond to the email correspondence from the hon. Member for Sefton Central sent on 22 May 2023.

Sir John Whittingdale: I can confirm that your letter was transferred to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 22 May 2023, and that a response was issued on 15 June 2023.

Attorney General

Prosecutions: Children

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to adopt a child-first approach to prosecuting people under the age of 18.

Michael Tomlinson: Each CPS Area has a lead prosecutor for cases involving children, who is equipped to deal with complex casework and provide support to other prosecutors.In May 2023, the CPS published the single biggest update to their legal guidance on Children as Suspects and Defendants, which can be found here: Children as suspects and defendants | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk). This guidance sets out the approach prosecutors should take when applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors when deciding whether to prosecute children. This update incorporates all recent policy, terminology, and legislative updates, and is intended to reflect a ‘Child First’ justice principle.

Wales Office

Food: Sales Promotions

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has held discussions with the Welsh Government on its proposal to introduce legislation to restrict the placement and price promotion of products high in fat, sugar and salt.

David T C Davies: Public health including restrictions of products that are high in fat, sugar and salt is devolved in Wales and is therefore the responsibility of the Welsh Government. UK Government officials from DHSC engaged with their Welsh Government counterparts earlier in the year to update each other on their policies on this matter. Legislation to restrict the placement of products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) came into force in England on 1 October 2022. The regulations also require the restriction of promotions on HFSS products by volume price. This includes multibuy deals such as ‘buy one, get one free’ or ‘3 for 2’. Given the current challenges caused by higher food prices, this government does not want to take action now that could risk contributing further to the rise. Therefore, the UK Government are further delaying the volume price promotion restrictions, whilst we monitor the continued impact of the unprecedented global economic situation. These restrictions are now due to come into force on 1 October 2025. Meal deals are generally targeted as lunch options for adults to consume on the go that day rather than being stockpiled at home, and they aim to reduce the cost of a single meal. Therefore, it was decided that these types of price promotions will not be in the scope of the restrictions in England.

Ministry of Defence

Defence: Digital Technology

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in what year the UK’s fully-digitised modern warfighting division will be deployable.

James Heappey: The British Army’s 3rd Division is deployable. Future Soldier will see this Division modernised by 2030 with a variety of new capabilities built around a digitally networked combination of Ajax, Boxer, Challenger 3, long range precision fires and un-crewed aerial systems. Additionally, as we’ve learnt through our support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the draping of advanced technologies on to existing platforms can rapidly transform capability. The Army is exploring which technologies that have been successful in Ukraine could similarly be pulled through onto the existing force at pace.

F-35 Aircraft: Crew

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 26 June 2023 to Question 190253, how many fully trained F-35 pilots were in RAF service in March (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.

James Heappey: I am withholding the information requested as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.A snapshot figure was given in November 2022 and I refer the right hon. Member to Question 209 at the meeting of the Defence Select Committee of 2 November 2022 on the US, UK and NATO, HC 184.

Air Force: Ceremonies

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of the King's Birthday Flypast on 17 June 2023.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The cost of the King's Birthday Flypast is met from the existing Annual Flying Task budget and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Watchkeeper WK450

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190762 on Watchkeeper WK450, how many days it would take to deploy Watchkeeper drones held in the sustainment fleet.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190762 on Watchkeeper WK450, whether his Department is using equipment from the Watchkeeper drone fleet to sustain drones held at readiness.

James Cartlidge: Watchkeeper sustainment fleet airframes are held at specific, graduated levels of readiness to support and help maintain the forward fleet's own readiness for operations. When required, this support includes augmenting the forward fleet with additional or replacement airframes and providing spare parts, which is commensurate with practices used on other Defence aviation platforms. To maintain operational security, I am unable to disclose further details of readiness levels.

HMS Defender

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned cost is of the refit of HMS Defender.

James Cartlidge: The total anticipated project costs for HMS DEFENDER's refit is £68 million; this figure may be subject to a slight adjustment to reflect on-going negotiations with the contractor BAE Systems.

Defence: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any contracts have been placed through urgent operations requirements to restock British Forces after equipment and weaponry have been sent to Ukraine.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence does not comment on specific Urgent Capability Requirements (UCRs) given their direct link with ongoing operations and the opportunity this information would present to an adversary as a result.

Estonia: Armed Forces

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK armed forces personnel are based in Estonia; and how many will be based in that country in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.

James Heappey: There are currently 984 UK Service personnel deployed to Estonia as part of the UK's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) (down from 1554 in May 2023 when Ex SPRING STORM 2023 was taking place). A baseline deployment of c.1,000 troops is planned to be deployed in both 2024 and 2025. However, as the eFP is a rotational deployment, the precise number of personnel deployed will vary at any one point during that period. For example, during peak training periods, such as exercise SPRING STORM 2024, these numbers are likely to rise to c.2,000 UK personnel. In addition to our eFP deployment, from February to July 2023 the UK has also deployed a Typhoon squadron and 100 personnel from 140 Expeditionary Air Wing (some 200 personnel in total), in support of NATO's enhanced Air Policing mission.

Northern Ireland Office

Parades Commission

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many times he has met with representatives of the Parades Commission since September 2022.

Mr Steve Baker: In line with the Framework Agreement between the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has met the Parades Commission once since September 2022.

Police: Northern Ireland

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on policing budgets.

Mr Steve Baker: Policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland Executive block grant. The budget set out in the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 27 April gives the Department of Justice a total allocation of £1.2 billion and is now being put on a statutory footing with the introduction of the Northern Ireland Budget (No.2) Bill on 29 June. We have provided the Department of Justice with the third largest budget allocation after Health and Education. It is now for the Department of Justice to determine the allocation of funding to the PSNI from their budget allocation for 2023-24. It is an operational matter for the Chief Constable to determine how to deploy the funding allocated to the PSNI, in consultation with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, to deliver the best outcomes possible. Recognising the unique security situation in Northern Ireland, the UK Government makes additional contributions to PSNI through Additional Security Funding. The contribution for the financial year 2023-24 will be £31.2 million. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is in regular contact with the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland regarding a variety of matters. The UK Government fully supports the excellent work that the PSNI undertakes to keep people in Northern Ireland safe, often in exceptionally challenging circumstances.

Foreign Investment in UK: Northern Ireland

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he is taking to promote investment into Northern Ireland from India.

Mr Steve Baker: In March 2021, the Northern Ireland Office announced that £8 million of New Deal for Northern Ireland funding would be provided to Invest Northern Ireland, to expand their overseas presence in new locations, and expand their presence in existing locations. This funding has seen new Invest Northern Ireland staff members recruited in countries across the world, including India, and other key investment and export markets. This in-market presence is a direct result of our New Deal funding and will help Northern Ireland businesses gain increased access to these markets and promote Northern Ireland as a location for inward investment. The Northern Ireland Investment Summit on 12 and 13 September, led by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Northern Ireland Office and Invest Northern Ireland, will further position Northern Ireland as an ideal location for investment and investors from across the world.

Official Visits: USA

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has made an assessment of the potential economic impact of the US President's visit to Northern Ireland in April 2023.

Mr Steve Baker: The visit from the President of the United States to Northern Ireland during the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement further underscored the commitment of the United States to peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has benefitted from substantial Foreign Direct Investment from the United States, having generated nearly 13,000 jobs and £1.5 billion worth of investment in the last decade. During his visit, the President outlined the potential for this to substantially increase. The UK Government is working closely with Joe Kennedy III, U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs, particularly as we build up to the Northern Ireland Investment Summit on 12 and 13 September. This Summit will further position Northern Ireland as an ideal location for investment, including from the United States.

Northern Ireland Protocol: Trade

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with hon. Members on the Centre for Brexit Policy's report entitled Mutual enforcement: the key to restoring Government in Stormont, published on 27 June 2023.

Mr Steve Baker: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland regularly speaks with a range of stakeholders in relation to the return of devolved government and will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months.